What makes a hero?

Teenagers are wonderful.

Sandwiched between their childhoods and their careers, they happily live their days as their choices take them.
Some of them know exactly where they're going.
Some of them don't, but either way it doesn't really matter.
As a teacher, I know that the most important thing is that they follow their hearts and discover pathways that make them happy.
Because as cheesy as it sounds, our hearts often know where we're going, even when we don't... kinda like a GPS for life! (Except maybe a little more reliable.)

Somewhat recently, when I was teaching in an all-boys school, I asked a class of grade 9's to write a short story. It could be about anything, but needed to have at least 3 unbelievable things happening in it.

I found it interesting how a lot of the stories were very similar, and there were a couple of ideas that were consistent with approximately 70-80% of the class:

- The hero was always male.
- The hero was always really tall and extremely good looking.
- The hero was almost always capable of great physical acts of strength, such as possessing the ability to run and swim all the way around the world, or the ability to lift up people's houses with one hand (this was almost always one of the 'something unbelievable' elements of the story').

It makes sense that the main character would be male. They were boys after all, and this kind of character would be someone they'd be more likely to relate to. But tall, strong and good-looking? Reading these stories, these were overwhelmingly considered the ideal characteristics for a main character.

It got me thinking about how, from such a young age, these are the first things people seem to think of when imagining a hero. No one thinks of a short, nerdy fellow, who's never so much as set foot in a gym! Which I think is a little sad, because not everyone is tall or muscley or what society deems as 'extremely good looking'...
That doesn't mean they're not special.
That doesn't mean they can't change the world.
Actually, when you think about it... it doesn't really mean anything. At all.

So what is a hero?

This is one of those things that means something different to everybody, and this is fine.
But I like to think that one day in the future, children will grow up understanding heroism to mean something different to 'superman'.
They won't imagine someone tall, dark and handsome, but someone kind.
Someone who is steadfast in their beliefs.
Someone loving and respectful to everyone they encounter in life.
Someone who outlines the silver-linings of every cloud and spreads seeds of joyfulness and positivity in peoples minds.
Someone with a beautiful heart and character.

Because, when it comes to striving towards an ideal, who someone is on the inside is SO much more important than how they are physically.

And everyone as the potential to do great things, they just need to believe in it.

When things resurface...

So I was scavenging through some of my old notebooks this morning, looking for some empty pages, when some old scribbles caught my eye.

I never told anyone this, because I was afraid I would fail (which I totally did, apparently!) but a while ago, just for fun, I was working on a YA novel. I never finished it, and eventually got distracted by other things, but when I came across the pages the other day I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about them!

I was never really confident in my writing, but as I was reading through some of these it just brought back to me everything I was going through 2 years ago. My main character, Mabel, has her voice stolen from her one day and essentially goes on a mission to retrieve it... I know, not the most creative sounding storyline, but it pretty much reflects where I was at this time. :p

Here are some bits and pieces! Maybe they won't make much sense without any context, but I thought I might share anyway. :p

"I know," wrote Mabel.
"But what do you want?"
Her fingers quivered as she placed the bottle on the table, but when she looked up he'd already turned away.
"A conversation," said the Djinn.
"I need a conversation. For the love of my Master, give me just one... where for a minute, you need not the earth to shake nor the oceans to rise. Where you're not thinking about all the mistakes you've made or need to erase. Where the flowers can die and the kingdoms can fall and for just that minute, everything is how it is and how it needs to be. Tell me that your only wish is to say this to me. Look at me girl... and tell me this isn't all for nothing."
Mabel felt the hope dying on her lips as she looked down at the crippled creature. How could she tell him she was happy, when she'd spent all this time seeking him out.

*

"So that's you huh? That girl. They've been saying much about you they have. The girl with hair like fire..." He eyed her thoughtfully. "You want your words back."
It wasn't a question. He knew who she was.
"Powerful magic, not to be messed with."
"But you can do it. We were told that you could," said Flynn.
"Perhaps," he said with a shrug. 
"There's just one thing. You see, you humans can't be trusted with words. I mean, you hardly even think about them, do you? I notice these things, sitting on the sidelines. You live your lives hoarding them up in those little brains of yours, then just throw them around without a second thought. You could hurt yourself! And do! You choose bad ones and wrong ones and go about playing with them like it's the most insignificant thing in the world. But it's not you know. We make our words. They mean things."
He eyed her carefully.
"Powerful magic, not to be messed with."
Mabel looked back at him. She understood. She'd seen it walking through her neighborhood. Cars beeping at each other and their drivers screaming out their windows to go a bit faster. Families bickering during their yearly get-togethers and school kids spreading hurtful rumors about their friends. He was right, it wasn't fair. But neither was this, and so Mabel decided in that moment, she would never again misuse her words. She knew their power.

*

"Interesting,"
He pried it from her fingers and she listened tentatively.
"So, you left them then."
She nodded.
"They needed help,"
"They needed to trust in someone."
She watched as he understood.

Mothers Day Song

Happy Mothers Day Muman!
So we wrote this song together, and I filmed it on mothers day to make this video. :)
Enjoy! x