Real Life Superheroes
When we are young, we look to famous individuals for our role models and people who we hope to someday be like. Whether it be an actor or actress, singer, athlete or anyone in between we put these individuals on a pedestal to live up to be Iron Man or Captain America or Wonder Woman. Although I do know that the superheroes I just listed only exist in movies, I have began seeing that they may not wear capes, but everyday superheroes exist among us and even in our inner circlers.
When I looked up what a superhero is considered the definition that came up was:
“A superhero is a character that possesses abilities beyond those of ordinary people, who typically uses his or her powers to help the world become a better place.”
As I began having this thought of real life superheroes, this definition confirmed what I had already known in my heart. Superheroes do exist, and I would even say they exist in ordinary people. Where we look to many influencers, celebrities, and athletes I would say our real heroes are around us everyday.
As we saw in the year 2020, our first responders and medical personnel are 100% real life superheroes. This week I spent some reflecting on people who I have in my life who I have had the unbelievable pleasure to see their hidden powers in action.
The first superhero I actually ever met is my Abuelito. My Abuelito has the unbelievable superpower of weather modification. He can transform himself to be the calm in any storm. When things go wrong or anything comes up, my grandpa is the first one to keep me calm and make sure I see all the good I have in my life. He keeps my head focused on school first, making sure I get the education he knows will lead me further in life. He asks me about the things I enjoy and always sees when I am stressed and can immediately calm me down. When there is any storm in any of our families life, Abuelito somehow makes hurricane winds calm down to an ocean breeze. Even when he is scared and worried, he uses that superpower to ensure that the rest of us are calm.
Another superhero I get to interact with all the time is my graduate school director Dr. Lapchick. Dr. Lapchick has the superpower of empathy. Empathy is:
“The capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another’s position.”
Dr. Lapchick has dedicated his entire life fighting for civil rights and justice not just in the U.S. but across the entire globe despite never knowing what it is like to be a Black or African-American person or a women all across the globe. His passion and life’s work is inspiring and is one of the main reasons I find myself here in Orlando. He has the ora around him that radiates compassion and truly allows people to feel heard as if he is the only person in a crowded room.
The last superhero I want to talk about which gave me the thought of this post is one of my friends Shaquin. Shaquin has a mix of superpowers, one of wisdom and one of invisibility. Wisdom because whenever I have a thought or opinion and want to talk about it, I know he is about to give me a well, fact based, unbiased, honest opinion. From simple things of who has the best football players in the country (the correct answer is Florida), best NBA players, to funny things like social constructs and conspiracies to finally the serious ones such as school, life, relationships and overall anything. Second, invisibility, because he is doing things every day that nobody sees. As the definition I had mentioned earlier had said, heroes use his or her powers to help the world become a better place. That is exactly what Shaquin does everyday. Just this week I was able to see him in action in his mentoring of his “younger brother” Nathan, just because he saw the impact mentors had had on his own life, and how he can now him someone else get on the right track. I truly was inspired to see he does all the things he does not to be recognized, but to truly make the world a better place, all while staying completely invisible.
God has really put an amazing group of influences and role models around me who not only inspire me, but drive me to be a better person each and everyday. I could write for hours on those in my life and all their amazing superpowers. I could even write of those strangers who I barely know or who I may have only had a small interaction with, but saw their superpower show. Reflecting on the three individuals in my life showed me that everyone can be a superhero, and all of us know superheroes and may even be some ourselves. Spend some time looking around and you may even be able to see them out of their disguise of a normal everyday person.
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NASB)
