the tale of a hero

Today, while Shauna was waiting to go in for a scan she sat just a bit further down the hallway in her wheelchair. And this was close to one of the waiting rooms. She watched a little boy playing around and his mother frustrating herself. For anyone to be visiting an oncology unit must not be a great feeling so I can probably understand that the mother must have been there waiting in anticipation. But this little boy, probably around 5 or 6 years old, was running around, playing with his cars, and well just much nagging his mom for sweets or something.

I watched Shauna watching him. she called him over, and started a little conversation. His mom was a bit worried, and I just kind of eased her thoughts saying its okay, but Shauna and this little boy were chatting away having their own little conversation. And while they were in conversation she asked him who his visiting and he said it was his brother, he's waiting on his brother to get better so that they can hang out together and his brother can play with him. She said that she was waiting to get better so that she could play with her sisters too. And then she asked if he liked the car he had in his hands and he said he loves it, his brother gave it to him on his birthday saying that one day he can ride a car like that. And her words were:

Do you know Batman? He has a car just like that, its such a cool car and it has so many cool gadgets on it too. And Batman uses it to help him bag all the bad guys. Maybe, just maybe, your brother thinks that you'll be a superhero like Batman one day? You could save the world! And maybe be even better than batman.

This adorable little boy, asked her, do you know any superheroes? And her response was:

Yes, but you can't tell anyone, okay? Maybe your brother, but you can't say a word to anyone else. Okay? (The boy nodded in such excitement). Yes, I am a superhero. Really, you see in battle I got injured so now my superhero doctors are taking care of me, at this hospital they only have superhero doctors and they make sure we're okay so that we can kick all the bad guys butts! I'm serious. I'm just pretending to look so sick for all the visitors because they may just pick up on who I am and bombard me while I'm sick. And I know your brother, he's a secret superhero too. But I can't tell you our hero names, well because its super top secret.

The boy, with a cocky little voice says "but howcome I don't hear about you" and she simply replied "because an honest hero doesn't need the world to know that he or she exists".

That little boy went to sit down next to his mom, quietly and calmly sat there. I suppose he tried to take all this in.

The thing that hit my mind was, she's right! She's a hero and the world doesn't need to know what she does for it, and somehow we all have a bit of hero in us. We can all make a difference and we don't need a red cape or a batmobile or a flashy costume. We gotta help those that need it most. A true hero sacrifices themselves to help another, throws away what they're feeling or what they need to do and just make a difference, one person at a time. She's a real hero, I know that deep down inside she knows it!