Look to the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!
It's an ideal. And a lofty one at that.
Now I know reading pieces like this is pretty much a cliche wrapped in a maxim inside of an adage. And coming from a cynic who isn't much of a fan of humanity, talking about how the world needs a hero may almost sound hypocritical. However, we all need something to believe in.
I woke up the other morning and like I always do, I checked Facebook. I have my routine where I send out my happy birthday messages, poke back those I'm in an all out poke war with, and then scroll through the top stories of the day. Only this time, there were only two stories on my feed. Black/blue/all lives matter debates, and Pokemon Go. Now anyone who knows me knows I love a good debate, I relish that shit more than most people do sporting events. I like watching how people argue, the thought process behind it, and for some reason get a lot of joy out of the fact when someone knows they have lost the argument, but have a little too much pride to admit they have lost so they resort to name calling. The problem was, while reading these debates, on some of these posts the name calling and expletives were flying right out the gate. Neither side of the debate could admit to being right or wrong. And that's what gets scary.
It's been said by many others at this point but it needs reiterating: just because you are pro one thing, does not mean that you are against the other. That's one of our problems as a society is the minute we say that we are for one thing, some people believe that you are automatically against the other. In this case, you can be pro police AND pro black, you know, which you should be anyways! We are one people. We live here together. We deal with tragedies together. Why then do we feel the need to do these things alone?
We want some all powerful force to come in and solve our problems, the issue is we refuse to believe in it. We refuse to believe that there is good in the world because the people we looked to as heroes before have been tarnished by the media or by others opinions that we now look to the sky for an answer to a question we don't want to ask. The heroes we once idolized as kids are still out there. Sure, we can't see the capes they wore, or watch them save the world right in front of our eyes, but just because we can't see them changing the world, doesn't mean they aren't.
Remember when we were kids and we were asked "Who is your hero?" or "Who do you want to be when you grow up?" And as kids we had those we held in such high esteem that nothing could knock them off the pedestal we set for them. Think back now to who you used to have seated on that pedestal, are they still there? Be the hero you wanted to be when you grew up. Be the good you want to see in the world.
A very good friend of mine had a talk with me the other day and she said she does not want to change the world. She just wants to change five lives. She said if she can touch five lives and make a difference to them, that will be enough for her. Because then those five people can touch five more lives, and they can touch five more lives and so on. Pay it forward, and pretty soon, the world has changed. And the best part is, we were able to do it by coming together to change someone else's life.
Be the hero you wanted to be when you were a kid. Do it in such a way that some kid could answer "I want to be like them when I grow up." Be the reason someone looks to the sky.
