I'm a Sap

It's official.

I am a sap. And a girl at that.

We were watching a movie tonight and I unexpectedly found myself in tears wishing there were superheroes to make it all better.

Not one of my finest moments, but at the same time, I realize that we all want to believe there is someone out there who can and will make it all better for us if they only knew our personal plight.

Powerful and strong, the superhero could make right the wrongs and punish the evil-doers and malefactors of the world in the way that would set a rich example for those tempted to follow in unsavory footsteps.

Saving planes from crashing, trains from jumping their tracks and terror from happening by sheer force of will and superb physical training, these superheroes would make the world a better place and keep things from going awry.

But superheroes don't usually show up in capes and flashy boots when trouble happens. And powerful men and women of extra-worldly skill don't inhabit my neck of the woods.

What I do see are people who bring tears to my eyes in ways that beat a sappy movie any day.

The men and women who change things for the better around them in quiet but important ways who don't get noticed unless something 'doesn't' happen.

I've wondered sometimes if we could see each other with that all powerful x-ray vision or whatever it takes to reveal who we really are, just what we would see in each other. The good stuff that makes other people's day just a little better by a single degree. The times when our light shines brighter and illuminates the path for someone who might be struggling with their own personal crisis. Those moments when we lay aside the Atlas hold we have on our personal world and shoulder the load of another in a superhero pose for just a little bit...

We don't get press agents to reveal 'our glory' and when we trumpet it ourselves, there is a tinny, hollow ring to our own words that reveals us for the patched and second rate thrill seeking shams that we are.

Superheroes in the movies don't seem to bask in the adulation. They seem to be somewhat abashed and self-effacing when it comes to their personal appearances and their skills.

People who are truly great men and women take a page from that book, too. They just step into that role as powerful beings to intercede for those in crisis, then slip back into their everyday clothes and routine as quietly as they can. They don't thrive on attention, they are content to feel good for someone else and to have that special feeling of having done something for another who needed them for a moment in time.

When I reflect back on the seemingly endless batallion of people who have made my life better by degrees, I see capes and boots and utility belts with special pouches for all of the elements that have saved me in crisis or peril.

They don't see them on their own person, because that's what a real hero is - someone who just does what needs to be done, then moves on. No applause, no big deal, happy to hear 'thank you' and just fade out and let you shoulder the load once again - stronger, better and whole.

So while I cry a bit at movies that make me feel good about heroes, I cry genuine tears of thanks for the men and women who are heroes in real life that don't even know who they are.