{super hero letter}

"It’s a bird...it’s a plane...it’s.....Superman?”  Nah, I’m never going to have a tag line like Superman, most likely I won’t have a fancy car like Batman, and I’m not going to be able to swing from skyscrapers like Spiderman. I may not be a superhero that is out saving the world from the newest villain, and I may never be the headliner in the newspaper. Don’t worry though, I’m a different kind of superhero.  Perhaps a better kind of superhero.

There are going to be people in the world who will tell me that I’m not a hero, and that my “super power” isn’t really a super power, I’ll just ignore them.  What I’ve got, it’s pretty special.  

You see, I’ve got a quiet strength about me.  Perhaps we should say my super power is invisibility.  But, that almost denotes some negativity in my mind.  It’s not so much invisibility but the super power to “hide” amongst the crowd, knowing when you are needed and reappear. 

Sometimes people think they need a big fancy superhero to rescue them from the bad in the world.  In my experiences, they don’t need the pomp and circumstance, and that’s why I think my super power is special.  When they come to their senses they will realize what they need is someone like me.  Someone who can be there for them, to listen, to care, to lend a helping hand.

You can see how some people would scoff and laugh at my super power.  It’s not an easy life amongst all these big powerful superheroes.  They are always picking on me, and trying to convince me that I’m not a superhero.  I’m doing my best not to allow them to get me down, but it can be hard.  

That’s where the strength in quiet strength comes into play.  It’s taken me a few years to figure this out, but I’m full of inner strength, especially when it comes to defeating the every day villains I may have to face.  These villains that I face, generally aren’t strangers, or scary monsters, but friends- people I love and trust. To quote a beloved fictional character, Albus Dumbledore, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”  So those other super heroes can go and fight off the monsters, but I’ll do things my way.

I try to do things in more of a peace keeper type way rather than fighting.  Kill them with kindness, right?  Not only do I face these daily villains, but I try my hardest to help those who are in need of a little extra boost.  Sometimes all someone needs is a listening ear, having a super power of quiet strength makes this job rather easy.  I find great joy and reward in listening to someone else’s problems and possibly offering a small piece of advice.  

Maybe one day the “popular” superheroes will realize that I am just as much of a super hero as they are, and perhaps the world will appreciate me for who I am and not try to make me someone else.  But until that day I will continue to show them how powerful I can be.  How much good I can do in the world, and how much strength it takes to have the super power of “quiet strength/invisibility”.  Being a superhero doesn’t have to be about the thrills and the frills, you can be a superhero by living an every day life and just caring for those you come in contact with.