A Hero's Mindset

     This work is exhausting. I wake up at five a.m. from Monday to Friday because, astonishingly, criminals are the early birds who steal the worm. They end up giving me just about five minutes to get ready for school so I can sit in a classroom to answer a couple of questions and watch the clock turn into our five-minute pass time, five times a day. These five minutes then offer the perfect opportunity for me to think about all the people who could be getting robbed on their way to work by an annoying idiot who thinks stealing something under $20 doesn't count as stealing, or the guy who got broken up with so he decided to spend years of his life creating a mutation that gives him superhuman abilities when all he needed was one of his buddies to tell him there is plenty of fish in the sea, a tub of ice cream, and a couple sad movie nights so he could move on. Then it's time for another class, and then another, and another, until the last period hits, and at this point, I ignore the test I have in Spanish that could bring my grade up from a B and the five hours worth of homework I have sitting in my backpack because what would happen if the friendly neighborhood spiderman didn't show up when someone was in danger? So I get out of school, eat the Nature Valley bar in my backpack that has basically turned into dust from having to shove my way through the hallways at school, put my suit on, and look around for anyone who's in trouble. I stop a perp from stealing a purse, stop a guy from stealing an ATM, deal with the villain of the week, save a couple lives before I head home, and get a lecture for coming home late from my mom. I do my homework, go to bed late, and do it all over again the next day.

    If I thought like this all the time I wouldn't make it. The truth is that I love my job, and I know how important it is. What if the contents of that old lady's purse included a sticky note with her social security number, credit card information, and all her passwords? What if that guy stealing the ATM ends up figuring out a way to travel across the multiverse and becomes responsible for killing all Spidermen and Spider-Women? What if that villain of the week decided to change their ways after being beaten and used their formula for a genetic mutation to cure cancer? There is no time to think about what I could be doing because what I am doing is important and I love it. I'm Spiderman, and no one can take that away from me. 

    A hero's mindset must be selfless and optimistic. This can seem impossible at times, but with great power comes great responsibility.

Signing off- M.M.