A teacher.
Why aren't you one then?
Hmmmm... I don't know. Good question. I went to college and got my degree so that I could teach. But then I got pregnant with you and decided I wanted to be a mom more than a teacher. Besides I get to teach you guys new things all the time so I guess in some ways I am. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A super hero.
Like Spiderman? Or Batman?
No. I don't want to be somebody else. I want to be me. But a super hero. What do you think? You think I could really be a super hero?
Yes. Of course I do.
Like a real super hero?
I think you can be anything you want to be.
A few days later Aidan comes home from school and says my friend told his dad that we are going to be super heroes when we grow up and his dad told him "that's stupid". Aidan looked genuinely crushed.
Stupid? You know what is stupid? Discouraging anyone from becoming a super hero! Aidan looked confused. Why is that stupid mom?
Why?! What do you mean why?! What kind of world would this be if there were no super heroes?! Hold on lets look up what a super hero is...
noun.
1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal:
So... your friends dad thinks that it is STUPID to be a man of courage?! STUPID to be admired for brave deeds and noble qualities?! STUPID to want to be a man who has heroic qualities and performs heroic acts??? I don't see anything stupid about any of that.
So maybe you won't sling webs or crawl the walls. You won't wear a cape and tights... which is a good thing anyway because you don't like to wear underwear and a grown man in spandex with no underwear is never a good thing. But you don't have to do any of those things to be a super hero. Super heroes are firefighters who run into burning buildings to save strangers. Super heroes are cops that fight crime. Our service men and women... they are superheroes. Superheroes are guys like your dad that sacrifice everyday to make sure their family is taken care of. You walk past everyday superheroes all the time and you don't even know it because they don't have a giant S on their chest. Sometimes its the guy that holds the door open for you in the rain, or the...
Or the mom that comes to your rescue when you have a bad dream....
Yes. Or the mom that will come to your rescue... whether its a bad dream or a bad day... I will always come to your rescue....
So don't let anyone tell you that being a superhero is stupid... It's stupid that not everyone wants to be one. I would hate it if it wasn't what you wanted to be. The world will never have enough superheroes... I hope as you get older you remember that. I hope when you are thirty you still just want to be a superhero. A superhero that holds down a paying job with benefits... but a superhero no less.
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