I’m, perhaps ironically considering we’ve just gone into lockdown in Sydney, thinking this morning of the thousand small interactions we have with others. Each of these, no matter how brief or seemingly inconsequential, provide some opportunity to change the course of one’s own and the other person’s day (or, I suppose in a larger sense, can have an impact on the rest of our lives). I don’t want to make that thought too grand as it would be exhausting to carry around and have it at the forefront of our consciousness wherever we go (especially in an urban environment where one has so many fleeting encounters each day). However, I think there is some space, especially in difficult times, to be more aware of and for each other with compassion and intent.
There are, to my reckoning, a glut of superhero films and series available to stream and binge on during lockdown. As a child, I dreamt of gaining superpowers, vanquishing foes (I probably did use the word ’vanquishing’ at age ten) and saving the world from all danger. The evident popularity of these stories (back to the Iliad and the epic tales of heroes) is partially from a desire to have agency and do good in the world or at least know that there is someone who has that ability. I doubt that I will suddenly be granted a superpower and don’t know that I would have the wisdom to wield it with any sense. I’m not sure that I would want to live in a world where such powers are arbitrary distributed as what humankind has already mustered seems to exacerbate the problems that we have and create more where there were none.
However, I think there is something innate in us all; there is a little bit of heroism and power that we carry and perhaps don’t tap into enough. It’s different with each of us; I can’t say what it might be for you and it probably changes depending on the context. But it may come in that fleeting moment when you interact with one person; it may be made from the connection of two people in a situation that will never occur again. We may never be heroes in the superhero sense but can, at any given time, microdose on superheroism by stepping in at a critical moment to perform an act for someone that helps them. I think it’s enough to take up the task of heroism in whatever small way one can. There won’t be one superhero that saves us all, but all of us in conglomeration can have the same effect in the end.
I remember reading once about an Indian tradition that, if one is in distress or urgent need, it’s acceptable to ask a stranger ‘can you act as god for me?’ That, in that moment, this person who can help would be granted extra grace and ability. I’d like to think the cosmos is there standing by to open up something for both the one in need and the one who can provide on a scale that’s adequate for the occasion. Or else, why are we really here? I can’t fix everybody’s lives or expend myself to remedy the massive problems of the world. I can microdose heroism though that might help someone on the course of their life with the issues they are facing. I can, in doing that, if everyone is doing that, import some change in the world.
Don’t discount your own abilities to be a superhero within the bounds of your ability and the specific circumstances you are in (this can also overlap with the capacity one has to be a jerk on a power trip by doing the opposite if we are using the metaphor of villains and heroes). Be, wherever you can be, a hero and a god to others—maybe not in the epic sense or even in a way they might recognise—but in a way that carries that spark of help and hope as we live with each other day to day.