I’m 10 years old, so it is in my childlike nature to appreciate superhero movies and TV shows. 

I’m also smart enough to wonder why they keep remaking the Batman story. But that is an issue for another time.

Movie and TV superheroes deal with out-of-this-world problems like alien invasions and mutant takeovers of the Planet Earth. I’m happy that those problems don’t exist in the real world, which probably makes them decent story material for those shows and movies. Just like the superheroes, the problems they deal with are not real.

But, I would like to now consider all of the people who deal with real-life and everyday issues. They do not have superpowers, per se, but they perform superhuman tasks at a superhuman rate. We don’t necessarily make movies about them, but we do need to know their stories.

So, let’s consider the superheroes that exist in our lives today.

Police and Fire Personnel

Whether it is keeping the peace or keeping citizens safe, the police and fire department personnel are heroes that impact our daily lives. I have a grown-up cousin who is a Deputy Sheriff, a county police officer.

When everything works as it should, police and firefighters keep us safe from harm. Policemen respond to crimes like robberies, car accidents, or when people hurt one another. Firemen put out fires in buildings that could be homes or businesses, or fires that burn up grasses and trees.

But maybe even more important is when police officers and firefighters help prevent crime and situations that lead to fires. Police officers educate the community about situations that can harm them. They work at large events with big crowds to make sure everything works okay and no one gets hurt. And firemen teach us how to make our homes and yards safe from harm. They even set small fires in fields to prevent larger, more uncontrollable fires from happening.

 

I think their bravery is their superpower. They put themselves in harm’s way to serve and protect people they don’t even know. It is important for communities and police officers and firefighters to work together, to know and understand each other, and to build trust with one another. That makes all of our lives safer, and our communities stronger.

Teachers

Where would the world be without teachers? Where would you be?

Teaching is a noble profession. It is also one that offers rewards in seeing students learn and grow. Often, the relationship between a teacher and a student is the strongest relationship a child has outside of the home. We are blessed to have so many people who choose to become educators.

However, I am aware that teaching is also an extremely difficult profession. Their job is very complicated. It’s much more than reading from a book or writing on a chalkboard or a whiteboard. And yet teachers still show up every day, and they care every day. They celebrate student wins and suffer their losses. They somehow manage to touch the lives of dozens of students (sometimes more) every day.

As for me, I am home-schooled by my mom most days with classes on campus once per week with my teaching coaches. I also have had sports coaches, acting coaches, and singing coaches who are all teachers in their own special areas.

I love my teachers. They perform heroic deeds everyday.

Doctors and nurses

Doctors and nurses care for the sick. They see human life in the most desperate situations, and try to improve those situations. They listen to stories, use their education to determine what is causing pain, and hold hands when they can’t remove all of the suffering of their patients. 

Sometimes, doctors and nurses are required to deliver very bad news. It’s a part of their job! To tell a person or a family member that the patient cannot get better, or is not going to live much longer, has to be the most difficult task they have to deal with. No amount of education can properly prepare a person for a situation where they have to tell someone something they don’t want to hear.

And there are other healthcare workers, like my Uncle David, a Physician’s Assistant, who help the Doctors and Nurses get their jobs done. There’s the radiologist who takes x-rays. X-rays are photographs of the inside of your body. There’s the respiratory therapist who helps my Uncle Max take oxygen and medicine to help his breathing when he has an asthma attack. Asthma keeps your lungs from working properly and prevents you from getting enough oxygen.

One final thought

There are other heroes in our daily lives – people who clean up after us, people who try to find cures for illness, people who work in dangerous conditions. All of these people perform their jobs because, well, it’s their job.

But they perform their jobs at great personal risk, and that risk then extends to their families. Where would we be without people who were willing to take those risks to make the world, our communities, our families, better. I think we can all be grateful that we have people willing to do these jobs. And even though they don’t wear capes or cloaks that make them fly or have magical powers that make them invincible, they do have the power of caring for others. And that’s the best kind of superpower to have. 

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