The Little Big Life

BY MICHAEL STEINHAGE

You’re super!

When I was little, I used to pretend-play that I was a mutant. No, not with two heads or green scales or too many fingers, but a cool one! One who can do telekinesis or read minds. I’d get a job working for MI5, moving secret dangerous stuff with my mind, beyond thick, sealed vault doors. Or I’d be a super-mediator and solve divorce problems as well as cross-continental wars in an instant, by letting people read each others’ thoughts. Or flying, without a cape or an aeroplane. But flying ranked lower than the other powers because, well, there’s aeroplanes. Oh, and not to forget about shooting laser beams from my eyes. They’d have special glasses to control that at MI5, like in the comics. Alright, let’s not lie. When I was a kid? I still do.

I read somewhere that we only use 5% of our brain, and all such abilities may well lie there, latent, waiting to be unleashed, could we but access just 10%! The plain reality however, on the average Monday I barely use 2%, so mind reading or laser eyes won’t happen anytime soon.

And yet… Could I be a superhero? Absolutely! In fact, I already am! I’m super every day because I get up and get out of bed, despite all the chaos and confusion life has thrown at us all for the past near two pandemic years. These days, facing the world is no less a feat than facing an army of menacing creatures (possibly with two heads) from another dimension. And if you get out of bed too every morning, and carry on, you are super too!

We can all be superheroes. We can all make the world more super, as soon as the day starts. Giving way to someone in traffic, without a grumble. Smiling bright at the receptionist when you walk into work, even though you’re not a morning person. Not standing in the way, chatting, on a busy narrow pavement. Buying your bus ticket on the app before you board. Getting your change out before you get to the coffee counter. You can be super out there in the big scary world, or even at home! Cutting the grass out front. Putting on clean bed sheets every week. Helping out without being asked to. Making sure you change the toilet roll when it’s done, or squeezing the toothpaste from the back.

“Could I be a superhero? Absolutely! In fact, I already am! I’m super every day because I get up and get out of bed, despite all the chaos and confusion life has thrown at us all for the past near two pandemic years”

And then there’s super-super, where I hold my hand up (not quite Superman style) to admit I don’t always possess these... Not losing your patience that’s been tested for two years. Keeping calm. Being the bigger person in an argument and letting go of grudges.

Understanding those who have lost their superpower of getting up and out and facing the world, and being their reason to try. Saying sorry first. You can do that? Then you’re not just super, you’re extraordinary, and the world needs more superheroes like you!