A fictional hero
Imagine a scene…
It’s a dark alley off a busy city street. The alley lights up as a car goes by and you see an old lady held roughly against the alley wall by a mean faced criminal. He is bending her arm behind her back painfully while he searches through her hand-bag…
It all goes dark until another car goes by and then we see a tall muscular figure with a mask and cape silhouetted against the narrow alley entrance. It is “The Batman”, and we sigh in relief. The old lady will be OK now. A hero has arrived.
The real heroes
Children see dads as their heroes. When you are 6 no one is stronger, smarter or funnier than your dad. When you break your toys or want to be picked up and put up high on the climbing frame you ask your dad because dad fixes things, dad puts things right.
In the real world dads shouldn’t be fighting crime to put the world right, that’s the police’s job, but they should be fixing toys and solving arguments. Dads should be getting their families to talk not shout, and taking the kids out to play sport, to swimming lessons or just to run free in the park. This is how to be a real super-hero.
Staying a hero
So dads – now you know how to be a hero how are you going to stay one?
Now imagine in the story above, if Batman had walked away and left the old lady. He would still have the cape, the mask, the muscles and the Bat-mobile but would he still be a super-hero?
I think not. If Batman stopped saving the world and fighting crime he would just be a normal man with a fancy car and some muscles.
So remember this next time you are tired and don’t want to play or just can’t be bothered to fix your daughter’s dolly’s head back on. To be a hero, you have to live the life of a hero.
Keep it up!
