Be the Hero: Finding Your Super Power

My daughter and I had a conversation the other day about superheroes. She was saying how cool it would be if people could fly, or have super strength or be invisible.

I said, yeah that would be cool, but did she know that we each already have superpowers?

I pointed out that some superheroes have skills that are innate and others (like Batman) just have really cool tech.

Kindness in the Face of Evil

Evil can never defeat evil. Two wrongs don’t make a right. These phrases have embedded themselves in our culture, and yet we continue to react the same way. We fight fire with fire. We follow the law of an eye for an eye. We completely embrace the world’s attitude of looking out for ourselves first and foremost.

I told my daughter that when you compliment or thank someone, it can’t help but have a positive effect. So your words have changed someone’s insides. That sounds like a superpower to me.

We may not always get to share that in detail, but we can be part of the solution rather than contribute to the problem of a society that is self-centered, self-absorbed and often unkind, sometimes out of malice but more often than not indifference.

While we can all cultivate kindness (think some kind of night vision goggles that let us see people as loved children regardless of their outward appearance), we do each have innate powers, gifts meant to be used for the common good. In superhero parlance, to help us change the world.

Find Your Gift (Your Power)

Some are gifted with encouragement, they just always seem to know what to say at the right time. Others with generosity. We all know someone who would give you just about anything of theirs without a second thought. Yet others are in constant service mode. They conduct their lives and give of themselves and their time to do whatever needs to be done. These can be cultivated in all of us, but there are definitely people that do these things naturally. These are their superpowers.

Real Powers for a Broken World

Sure it would be nice to be able to fly, or to be in more than one place at time but I think it’s so much more meaningful to have the ability to put a smile on someone’s face, seed joy where there was previously only despair; to warm a heart, grow a mind, or comfort a soul.

Hollywood may not glorify this kind of power in an action-filled blockbuster movie, but it lasts long after everyone has gone on to the next big thing, and the exponential and contagious effects can spread stronger than Oscar buzz.

Be the hero, use your gifts, cultivate more, and change the world.