Provocative Anwers #2

Fandango‘s 69th provocative question is:

Assume you are a real-life superhero. What is your super power? What is the largest obstacle to using your super power?

The Girl drew this sweet picture when she was around 8 years old.  Until she presented it to me, I never thought of myself as a hero of any kind; I was just a man struggling to be a nurturing and effective husband, father, probation officer, son, brother, nephew, neighbor, and friend.  And often, I believed, falling far short of the mark.

In the years since, I have learned to judge my efforts less harshly and to give myself credit for having improved in all those areas thanks in large part to the tolerance, care, and patient guidance of The Boss.

Indulging, for a few moments, the fantasy that I could be perceived of as a real-life superhero, I reckon my real-life superpowers are empathy and the ability rapidly to consider circumstances, events, and ideas from multiple angles before taking any decisive action.  Owing to these qualities, I strive daily to treat every person I encounter with kindness, compassion, and respect.  Also, I have an uncanny ability to keep my cool in a crisis.

The largest obstacle to using my superpowers, my kryptonite, if you will, is my mere humanness.  I have long since conquered the raging temper that dominated my early- to mid-twenties and that caused me to hurt a lot of undeserving people in some truly despicable ways, but I still commit too-frequent errors in judgment that keep me from being as good, as kind, as I aspire to be.

Who among us can’t say the same?  What do you imagine your superpowers are, and what keeps you from using them?

I’m grateful to Fandango for inspiring me to reflect this morning.  I hope y’all will check out his excellent blog if you haven’t already.

Y’all have a great weekend filled with sunshine and laughter.

Take care, be well, and relax!

Love,

Denny♥

–Via Fandango’s Provocative Question #69