When you hear the word 'superhero' what do you think of?
Most people probably picture Batman, Superman, Captain America, Iron Man, or some other comic book figure who swings from tall buildings and always seems to be in the right place at the right time.
What do you think of when you hear the word 'hero?'
This question is probably a little harder. Some of us might think of firefighters, police officers or people who serve in the armed forces. People who society defines as heroes because of their occupation instead of their character, ambition or heart.
I myself have never been a huge fan of superheroes. Sure, I have watched several of the movies and have my favorites like every other person, but the obsession has never struck me like it has so many others. This is not to say superheroes are bad, but I believe the idolatry of superheroes can mess with the population's misconceptions of heroes causing we, the people, to overlook those among us.
While superheroes prove to us that there are enough good people in this world to counteract all the bad, they give us the misconception that heroes are solely people with super strength, laser vision, the ability to fly and in some cases immortality. They often give us the impression that being a superhero is their job. While all that is fine and dandy for comic books, it tends to overshadow the true characteristics of real-life heroes. Heroes are simply "everyday people doing everyday things" to quote my favorite song "Heroes" by Alesso.
A real-life hero could be a firefighter that runs into a burning building or the paramedic who saves lives. It could be the coach who builds the confidence of his/her athletes or the bus driver who transports kids safely to and from school. It could be you, or it could be me. While people who save lives could be perceived as heroes, it is not their job that makes them heroic, it is their character, their ambition and the heart they put into their job. We all have the potential to be heroes, whether your life's work is keeping criminals off the street or flipping burgers. It is the identity of people that make them heroes, not their job title. In a sense, anyone could be a hero by somebody's definition.
Who one person might consider a hero, might not be who everyone else or even anyone else does, but to be a hero you do not need global, nationwide, or even local recognition, just the recognition in someone else's mind that you, in particular, have made that person's world a better place.
You see, real life heroes are not defined by their super powers. We are all mortals, but can all be the light in some else's darkness or the helping hand for those who need it or the listening ear. We, the people, are the one's who hold our world together, and we ALL could be heroes.
