Heroes needed — apply within

Posted on August 3, 2021 by 40 Mile Commentator

Life is not like a box of chocolates. Money is tight, while debt continues to grow. Bills keep piling on with no remorse and/or flexibility (it would seem). The work week is daunting and unrelenting. The world is morbidly obese in its national debts. And lemons can no longer be made into lemonade, because the cost of groceries, gas and everything else has skyrocketed in price. This was happening even before a global pandemic hit us where it hurts. It’s like the world keeps kicking us when we are down.

It’s overwhelming, overbearing, and it makes Hulk SMASH, because you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. One has to laugh about it, as it is often a continuous barrage of sewage that needs to be waded throughout many times through one’s lifetime. But societal livers persevere. With grudges, regrets and with a sense of “what is it all for?” Because maybe there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Perhaps, good things do happen to those that wait. Maybe we can all rest assured, life will work itself out magically. But, life takes sweat, blood and tears. Effort is needed, unfortunately. And sometimes, we are all just sick and tired of the rat race. It wears on you, how could it not. We are trapped in a hamster wheel, so it would seem.

So, with that — welcome to the real world! No smoke and mirrors, illusions, slight of hand. It’s raw and in your face. No holds barred. BAM! SPLAT! BIFF! ZOINKS! Or any other comic bubble representation that works here. Pandemic or no pandemic — many southern Albertans suffer unnecessarily, a lot. And at the root of it all is personal mental health. Self-care is extremely important, these days, more than any before it. Like the old saying goes, “You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself.” The perfect sentiment.

Mental health should be at the forefront during today’s blunt force trauma on one’s ability to keep it together with so many distractions and head-on catastrophes that face us in all walks of life and at any given time. Be good to one another and especially one’s self. Life is too short, but the rollercoaster ride is discouraging, sometimes fun and many times debilitating, frustrating and causes us to cower in a fetal position, hoping for the best outcome.

No one is immune to life’s bombardments, invasiveness, cruel and unusual punishment and its nagging ways. “Give me a break,” is what the masses plead. But, life does not always listen.  It taunts, ridicules and laughs like the Joker with his menacing and deformed red lips erratically drawn on his face. We do need a Batman, Superman or Avenger to be a hero in today’s villainous rage. But, unfortunately, we must all become are very own heroes. Or become a hero to someone else.

With the unsure world we live in, it’s up to us to make it better — one day at a time. Saving our own mental health is admirable, and must be a priority. Helping others is also a very noble cause. Superheroes, in the comic book sense, are not real — they are but fictional characters created by humans. But, the essence of a hero, can be an attribute humans can aspire to be more in tune with. Achieving hero-dom is quite simple and can be done instantaneously, if one so chooses. Being a hero to a child, senior, significant other or someone else in life is a grand gesture. It may be minuscule in nature, but could mean the world to the receiver of the heroic act.

Be the change you want to see in the world, starting with a possible change within. Only you can be the hero you want to be. Don’t be a villain, there’s already way too many out there in the world we live in.

This editorial originated in the

Sunny South News.