Yesterday, as my family and I taxied our way down Broadway on our way to Penn Station, we were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of Spider Man posing for pictures -- even taking time to wave as our family collectively yelled his name. My kids were thrilled. There he was in the flesh -- the 'real' Spider Man -- not the 'fake' one we've seen in the cartoons.

My heart broke as I imagined the day when the innocence and wonder of my still young children would be dashed on the rocks of reality. How do I tell them there is no such thing as superheroes? No Wolverine. No Hulk. No Teen Titans. No Spiderman. Nothing.

And as I reflected, I realized something additionally disturbing -- a realization that, in a way, perpetuated a further loss of my own innocence and wonder.

I thought... Though we dream of the existence of 'real' superheroes -- the kind that comes to our rescue in our most desperate moments... the kind that obliterates the enemy...the kind that protects our world selflessly and unerringly from the devastation surely to be wrought by any self-respecting supervillain given the chance -- they simply don't exist. No surprise there, but now comes the disturbing part... the supervillains, from whom the superheroes are supposed to protect us, are real. VERY real.

Worse they are abundant and unchecked. They are malevolent, uncaring, selfish, greedy, willful, indiscriminant, and sadistic. And they are at the pinnacle of political power across the globe.