Photo by Prateek Katyal from Pexels — Photo by **Prateek Katyal** from **Pexels**

The “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys”

It’s not often that my son and I can watch “superhero” movies. The poor kid is chomping at the bit to watch the MCU movies (Amazon Affiliate link). One of the few movies that he can see is Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (Amazon Affiliate link). One of the things that’s most striking is Stan Lee’s final cameo. He is the writer credited with helping to create a lot of Marvel’s greatest characters and teams including The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and the Peter Parker incarnation of the original Spider-Man. One of the movie’s themes is the journey of the young boy, Miles Morales, as he grows to believe in himself and assume the mantle of Spider-Man in his universe. Understanding both Stan Lee’s role and Miles’ journey helps to provide the following Stan Lee quote at the end of the movie with its proper context,

“That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed, without a doubt, a real superhero.”

With my son being five, his concept of heroes-or as he says “good guys” and “bad guys” is very basic. To him, “good guys” literally have superpowers. As much as he understands about coronavirus/COVID-19 (which is relatively little), I’ve explained to him is that the real “good guys” or “superheroes” are those that are keeping us safe: police, fire and medical personnel.

Our Superheroes’ Fears

I can’t even imagine what they now face on a regular, daily basis. I can’t imagine a police officer fulfilling their law enforcement duties, while wondering if the next person with whom they interact may be asymptotic and give them and/or their family the virus. I can’t imagine being a firefighter or paramedic treating someone surely has coronavirus, while fear what it could do if they catching it. I can’t imagine being a doctor, nurse or other medical personnel in a medical facility and doing their very best with (most likely) limited equipment not only to save the lives of those stricken, being afraid of catching it themselves or giving it to their family, and having to comfort victims that lost their lives or their surviving family members. While we face our challenges, their particular challenges are ones that most of us can’t even grasp.

Already, I know people that have been directly affected by this. I have a grade school acquaintance in the medical field and a relative that are currently sick. A few days ago (they all seem to blend together), I found out that my high school English teacher died partially due to coronavirus. I live and work in southeastern Michigan-one of Michigan’s viral epicenters. In literal and metaphorical ways, this has hit very close to home. If you cannot yet say this, then consider yourself blessed.

The Least That I Can Do

So, as we proceed daily and see what comes, I hope that we can begin by giving thanks for what our police, fire, medical personnel and others working to maintain things and keep us safe continue to do. If we are people of faith, praying for their continuing safety, health and continuing strength necessary to do what is difficult but very vital. If we may not be people of faith, then expressing gratitude for their work and sacrifice.

Yesterday, I reflected on how surreal our new lives now are. We are and will be impacted in ways that we cannot imagine. With this said, I can’t imagine what must currently be going on in our superheroes’ heads. In time, on their terms, I hope that they can share their stories, so that we can forever remember what they did, so that their and others’ various sacrifices aren’t in vain. I hope that whatever lessons learned will be applied in our continuing battle with this emerging, relentless disease. Lastly, returning to the Stan Lee quote that began this post, let us honor how they help others because they do that must be done for our collective safety. In these times, their sense of duty is absolutely admirable. For this and for everything else, I and everyone else that feels the same offers a profound thank you to the REAL superheroes.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

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