The weight of a hero.

“I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams.”

-Aunt May, Spider-Man 2 (2004)

I think we are all familiar with the term “With great power comes great responsibility”. Up until recently, most of us have been fans of the marvel movies that had kept us connected in this nice community. And while understandably superhero fatigue has started to settle into many, I think that heroes themselves will never truly die out. 

Legends like Superman, Spiderman and Batman will most likely always remain inspirational as well as profitable. Even going outside of the realm of comics, we will always have characters like Link from the legend of Zelda, Commander Shepard from Mass Effect and Sora from Kingdom Hearts. People who face insurmountable odds and yet come out victorious for the greater good. Fighters who are willing to lay down their lives if it means saving that which they hold dear. Good people trying their best to save what they love. 

The hero’s journey remains one of the most popular tropes world wide, regardless of genre. From anime to comics, from action movies to dramas. Since humans gain the ability to tell stories, heroes have always been there.

Yet it seems for as much as we like to talk about them, share their stories, their lessons, their morals, humanity could stand to learn so much from them. 

I am at a stage in my life where I find myself working in the media, watching endless cycle of news after endless cycle of news. I enjoy my job, but it has also made me truly realize how self destructive we are as a species; not that I wasn’t aware of it before, but rather it started becoming more and more apparent that we can’t seem to go a day without dropping blood. We like to solve hate with more hate, trying to stop a fire that rages within the human soul by throwing coals in it. And when it comes to suffering, misery loves company. Society has turned into this pity party where we are all guests, hosts and clowns. One side likes to blame the other, the other does the same. We are pointing fingers in a circle when in the end, we all need to point at ourselves. 

Don’t take me wrong, there is a BIG difference between being serviceable and being subservient. Fighting for what is right like freedom and justice is our responsibility. However, we must also have accountability for our actions. Because aren’t we all the “heroes” of our own story? Yet if I am to carry the title, I must be willing to carry the burden that comes with it. Like they said in the movie into the Spiderverse “We can all be spider man” however, we need to accept the responsibility that comes with the power. 

Because in reality, everyone wants to do what they think it’s right, forgetting that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If we do good, we have true good come back at us. If we wear a mask pretending to be good, while turning our backs to the world, the world will turn its back on us. Call it what you will, Karma, the universe, the will of God, it’s all the same in this regard. We reap what we sow.

We live in a world with enough Punishers, enough Lex Luthors and enough Jokers. We need more people like Spiderman, like Superman and even Batman. People who are willing to do good because it’s the only thing that matters. People who know what suffering is, so they fight in hopes that no one can feel what they feel. People who will stand against the darkness that comes. 

This isn’t a matter of race, belief or economical status. It’s a matter of people doing good for goodness sake. Yet I fear we can’t even agree on what good means anymore. And I think defining what good is will take at least fifty pages which I don’t think I could write and know most of you don’t have the patience to read. 

Simply put, good is when we help each other up when we’re down, protect when we are weak and fight along with when we are strong. To be good, means to see the best in people (though never allowing yourself to be deceived by those who would do you harm). It means to simply live in harmony with ourselves and those around us. 

Sadly some people can’t find peace and wish to take it from everyone else. And while they can never be cast out of the world, we can do our best to cast them out of our lives. A necessary cut from a leech that tries to feed off from our strength to be good and kind. 

We are born alone and we will return back from where we came alone. Yet our journey does not have to be a lonely one. We each carry our lantern that will mark our steps. How much better would our road be if we all have our lanterns lit? In the end, the weight of a hero is this; to walk and face the darkness that is ever present and ever coming in hopes that they can light the way for those who come after them. Living in a world of darkness, being the brightest they can be. 

We are living in our world of darkness. When will our we make space for our light to be?