For weeks college men with bodies built for wrestling had been prowling through thrift stores and dance studios for just the right color leotards and trench coats. I was enlisted when the sewing machine became the means for turning bright, tight t-shirts into hero wear, and they dubbed me Edna of the Incredibles. When my son found an abandoned wheelchair on the beach days before the opening, I knew they were destined to succeed.

 

Although I witnessed much of the transformation, I'm still fuzzy about some of the details. I saw them spray paint their feet, change their hair and skin color, shave their heads and wrap themselves in Saran Wrap. But how did they get knives to spring from their knuckles, or a light to shine from an eyeball? Even though the movie itself is rather sophisticated, I felt as if what was happening was in its essence very simple. My four sons and five daughters have been swishing capes and conquering dragons for two decades, and the world's children have been at it even longer. Perhaps you have dabbled in championing the oppressed as well, even if your only superpower is putting dinosaur band aids on a little girl's knee.

 

The desire to be a hero burns like a pilot light in most human souls, ready to ignite at any moment. We may think of ourselves as incredibly unique in this potential for passion. Yet although the expression of that passion may be specialized, its presence is not.

 

When we feel emblazoned  to right the world's wrongs it is not because no one before us ever tried. On the contrary, it is because Somebody did. Twenty centuries ago the quintessential Hero wrapped Himself not in leotards, but is swaddling cloths and came to earth. His cadre of potencies includes Light, Mercy, Hope, Healing and Joy, the perfect antidotes for the forces that have threatened the planet without pause. In that eternal gesture of deliverance we are gifted with an experience even more liberating that leaping across skyscrapers with an innocent child tucked in our arms.

 

We get to be that child.

Photo by Andy Sullivan

www.caringformarriage.org