I have to admit that I am not much a fan of the Superman films but it still grieved me when Monday’s news reported that Christopher Reeve had died of a heart failure after slipping into a coma on Sunday.

In that same report, his wife was quoted thanking the “millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved [her] husband over the years”.

Indeed, Christopher Reeve was truly loved by all since his title roles in all 4 Superman roles, but he was admired more for his courage after he became paralysed when he was thrown off his horse in a riding competition, damaging his spinal cord and leaving him “unable to breathe without a respirator”.

Admiration from the public grew when he declared that he would walk again one day, despite rumours from the media that he wanted to die. He put his injury to great use when he founded and chaired “charitable organizations in support of medical research into treatments and a cure for spinal cord injury paralysis and other central nervous system disorders”, according to the newspapers.

Reeve had a part to play too, when the federal legislation was passed which allowed “disabled people to return to work and still receive disability benefits”.

Truly, the world has lost not only a great actor, but a man of steel, a rarity in today’s world.

But his wife should not go unnoticed. She deserves our admiration as well, staying by her husband’s side day after day through the 9 years of his struggle to regain control over his once powerful body, epitomising a rare loyalty to her spouse.

Looking at the divorce rates these days, you see many choose the easy way out, and ditching their other halves in situations less grave or irreversible than this, moving to ‘greener pastures’.

What happened to the marriage vows, so often taken for granted? Has “In sickness and in health, for better or for worst…” become nothing more than empty promises?

I am in no position to comment, as I am unmarried. But the lives of Christopher Reeve and his wife will definitely be one example I will follow.

::Caleb Ng::
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