Heroes...

Ok, on the count of three name your favorite super hero as a child. 1...2...3...*What???* Dudes, we are so not on the same page! I couldn't make out what you said but it didn't sound anything like He-Man! I bet it was because "The Defender of the Universe" chose to rock tight briefs, high fur Jesus boots, and what looks to have been some sort of ancient school bus patrol belt! Besides those minor shortcomings, I would bet you picked some other character because, well, we all are different and simply desired varying qualities in a super hero. Qualities that we ourselves would have liked to possess someday. Wait, let me clear that up. Know that I have never ever, in any form or fashion, wished to don or condone any of He-Man's apparel...well except for the sword, because that was cool and you know it!

For me as a kid, heroes played a huge part in my life and I would dare say yours as well. This because heroes allowed us to think outside the box and ponder the impossible. Think about it. They did things that no one else could do. They flew, they leaped tall buildings in a single bound, wore cool utility belts, and in my hero's case, rode a magical panther! In addition to all those things that kept our attention they, end the end, always saved the day.

Now some of you will be relieved to know that as I became more mature my heroes did as well. This because I knew better than to think that a cape would allow me to fly or squinting my eyes really hard would produce blinding lasers. These new heroes of mine no longer carried shields, super suits, or swords. In fact they weren't super at all. Well, it's still debatable. That one I claimed as a teenager was pretty close. He wore biker shorts there for a while under his get up...and the number 23!

With that being said, let's drop the super part and focus on plain old heroes. A hero is defined as a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Well, that takes number 23 out of the running. The latest pics posted of my adolescent hero were far from noble. This leaves the door open for very few individuals...one of them being YOU! In this world, we are all given choices and those are absolutely free. It costs us nothing to obtain distinguished courage or ability, to be brave or noble. It does however take. It takes us going through trying situations to prove that we are all those things. I say that since life will no doubt see to it that we all go through those trying situations - become a hero in the process.

You may be surprised to know that I've found that our kids aren't much different from how we were as children and still desire the same qualities everyone wanted in a hero. Well, except for He-Man. They think he's pretty lame! Example... The boys and I had just finished wresting on the bed. I had just performed my signature move, the "Double Daddy Bomb" where I simultaneously slam them both on the bed. I flexed my mus-kuls real hero like and slyly asked..."Who's the man?" One replied, "Triple H," and the other "The Big Show." Both wrestlers, neither of them me, both wear tight briefs! You know, after hearing that, I wasn't disappointed at all. I sensed, for them, a natural progression in their hero selection and more opportunities to make the right choices for me. Choices that could one day put me in the running of being their hero.

It's an ironic thing, this hero progression. Now that I'm grown, my heroes wear a shield of faith, a breast plate of righteousness, a helmet of salvation, and a sword of faith. Isn't that something? They don't sound too much different than my original "Supers!" I guess, in reality, not much has changed. They all ended up carrying shields, super suits, and still to this day,(if we're on the same page) the coolest of them all, the sword - and you know it!
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