Super Hero Dreams

My eight-year-old son is pretty brilliant.  As his mom I say that with a fairly heavy bias.  He loves math.  Like - loves it.  Begs for me to give him extra math homework.  Comes home from school depressed if they didn’t do enough math.  Wants to play math games in his free-time.  Cried one Friday night because we made him take a break from homework to play. (We have that on video.) But, before you start thinking that he’s all left-brained, he also loves to read and write stories.  He is a dreamer – a very scheduled, analytical dreamer.  Since he could talk he has expressed his desire to be a doctor.  That was until first grade when his amazing teacher inspired him to want to teach.  Both are incredible professions but in my Mama brain I see him more as an engineer or quite possibly a math professor.  Then recently I heard him explain to his brother that he probably wouldn’t be going to college.  He had a new career goal and he didn’t think he’d be able to learn the needed skills in college.  Say what??!!  I interrupted their brother-convo to inquire about this turn of events.  His head ducked instantly and he looked somewhat embarrassed and declined to share. 

Later that day I was able to take him aside privately and asked him to share his new dream with me.  His response: I want to be a Super Hero.  A Super Hero that doesn’t kill bad guys because my super power would be to change their hearts with love.

How do you even respond to that? I paused for a moment and then hugged him and told him that was an amazing goal to have.  He swore me to secrecy. (Before you think I’m breaking a huge confidence, I had him read this and he approved.)

But since that moment my heart has become more and more overwhelmed by his words.  He wants to change hearts by showing love.  Isn’t that what we should all aspire to do? Imagine how the world could be changed!  In these days of terrorist acts and racial conflicts, discrimination of all kinds, bullying at schools.  IMAGINE HOW THE WORLD COULD BE CHANGED!

Today we honor a man who had a dream.  A big dream.  We have come so far but there is obviously a long way to go.  I don’t know how long my child will have his dream of being a super hero who changes hearts with love but I hope that some form of that dream will always exist for him and I hope I can live out that dream as well.