Are you a Superhero/shero?

Hero/Shero....I refuse to call women HEROINE...that is the name of a drug.  I mean, really he/she...so why not hero/shero.  I can't wait to write my own dictionary and start adding my favorite made up American words...lol  Move over Merriam Webster!

I saw on Facebook today my favorite nephew and my favorite niece (OK...I actually have about SIXTY-FIVE favorite nieces and nephews...and I haven't even STARTED counting my favorite GREAT nieces and nephews...and I even have one GREAT-GREAT NIECE, with another one soon to come.  YUP, each and every one of them are my favorites...in their own way.)  Well, phew, that was certainly a long aside!  lol  These particular nephew and niece (actually niece-in law if I'm going to be particular) posted a a profile picture of them in Superhero costumes.  May I just add that each of them in their very own ways ARE Superhero/sheroes!  My nephew is going to college to become a Counselor/Therapist.  He has an amazing gift to make people laugh, and to help them heal with laughter.  My niece, is the Mother of three brilliant, beautiful children (and I AM very objective).  she is a talented writer, and has great capability to love others.  Can you imagine the influence that those three children will have in this world?

So...I read a story about the builders of the grand cathedrals in Europe.  The names of all the workers are gone, lost to history.  The architects, the designers of grandness, we remember them.  Those that were "down in the trenches," day in, day out, some that even died in their work, their names are gone.  Yet each and every time someone visits, worships there, their work is noticed.

It is extremely easy to liken those unsung heroes (and their wives who would have preferred having them home a lot more) to the unsung heroes and sheroes in our day to day world.  The women who repeatedly go through pregnancy, labor, and birth, and then stick around to raise their children, helping them to grow up into decent human beings who make the world a better place. Or the women who work at a job, and then come home and try to cram a 24 hour job into the 12 that she isn't working. The other unsung heroes are the Papa's, the men who go to work every single day (in my Papa's case it was 25 years at a job he loathed, but it supported his family), and then come home and are the best husband's and Papa's they can be.

We hear far too much of the negative news in our world.  I would LOVE IT, if we heard, two stories a night about a "regular" family, and the things that they are accomplishing.  I have lived long enough now to have the perspective of understanding what a huge gift it is in our world when hard working good people just live life the best way that they know.  Why don't we hear more about that, and less about the murders, rapes, and crimes.  I would ADORE hearing a count daily of all the airplanes that DIDN'T crash!

So...this post is a tribute to all the unsung heroes, and sheroes, that go about their seemingly simple lives day to day...getting up, showering, going to work, feeding their kids, organizing all the myriad activities that our children need to participate in, carpooling, and taking care of those we love that are in our world, Mom's, Dad's, Aunt's, Uncles, etc. etc. and don't think for a minute about how wonderful they are.  There are ever so many "Cathedral Builders," in this world.  How I would LOVE to hear more about that, and less about negative news.  So, I intend to search out great stories...stories that make you feel warm inside, and happy to have read that story. 

When I do speak about my greatest concerns in our world, sexual slavery, and human trafficking, I will do my best to approach it from a positive vantage point of, we CAN do something about it.  It may be, simply watching over our children, to prevent them from harm.  It may be participating in a "Neighborhood Watch," program.  There are as many ways to help, as there are people with ideas.

I have an assignment for all that read this today.  I wish you to stand in front of the mirror and focus on your potential.  Forget about your weaknesses (they will still be there even if you DON'T place your focus on them), focus on your strengths.  Make this exercise as simple as, What one thing can I do today to make the world a better place?  An example is, Take a good book to somebody who is sick, with maybe something yummy for them to eat with it?  Visit someone whose health doesn't allow them to get out very often.  Here's a great one for all of us, do NOT say anything negative about one single soul today.  I find that when I am negative about others it's because I'm feeling rotten about myself, and somehow pulling others into my quicksand makes me feel marginally better, until I realize what I'm doing and feel awful!

Think about YOUR personal Hero or Shero...write them a note telling them WHY their contributions have touched your life.  There is ALWAYS good waiting to be done in this world.  Let's focus on that, OK?

THANKS, to all of my personal Sheroes and Heroes.  I have written stories about many of them, and I will keep writing and sharing their stories.