1/30/2022 0 Comments Raising Real SuperheroesWhen you have young children, it's easy to get focused on a couple of things. It's easy to get caught up wanting to BE their superhero. And it's easy to feel driven to RAISE superheroes.
Both of those are tough assignments in this culture. We live in a culture that creates a lot of competition for a dad who wants to be his kid's superhero. There's Lebron and Brady and Beyonce and Beiber and a million other pop culture heroes that look better in posters on my kids' walls than I do. And - all of these posters paint pictures of superheroes seemingly making larger than life impacts on the world. It's hard raising superheroes who believe they can keep up with those tough acts to follow. Some days I fear we've lost our way a bit as parents in this superhero culture. I know there are days I sure do. There's so much pressure to do big things, to make big impacts, to CHANGE the world. We eye our own heroes out there, center stage, stars of mass movements and businesses and churches and political parties. We want our kids to see us re-writing the world like we see those big stars doing it. But you know, when I reflect on it, when I reflect on what the world needs today more than anything that comes from those hero led mass movements - the world needs more empathy and kindness and understanding and acceptance - we'll just call it what it is - the world needs more love. I think about that - what if all of us mere mortals simply looked at the people around us today with a longing to better understand them? What if we approached them with hearts driven to accept them instead of searching for the one or two reasons that will justify keeping our distance from them? What if we approached the people around us with a sureness they belong in our world and not with the blindness that sees no way they could? Or should... My guess is if we treated people that way today, the world would change. Like total home makeover change. My guess is if our kids saw us leading the way on that miracle makeover, they might put a poster of us on a wall in their room. (Or at least carry a snapshot of us on their iPhones). Any maybe, just maybe, we'd all be raising the greatest generation of superheroes ever.
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Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
May 2024
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