I was walking alone during the night, shadows playing with my mind. Is it a black phantom or the black cap of the dark knight?

Staring at the sky, after the creepy meow of the cat, waiting to see the projection of a bat. The wind is chilly and I raise my jacket to cover my ears.

This is how the story is supposed to start but it doesn’t.

Usually, it is like this. I’m walking alone after a couple of drinks with my buddies and I’m freezing as I forgot to take my coat.

That’s all. No creepy sounds, no black shadows, no bats in the sky and no one watching our lives sitting on the couch eating popcorn. No one recognises us as superheroes or protagonists of a movie.

No one?

Well, almost no one.

Because there are several people who give us several superhero names during a day.

Our partner who told us “Goodbye, my love” when we stepped out of the door. Our friend who said, “You’re amazing, thank you for this” when we helped him with something. Our team when they told us “we need your skills on this project”. Our boss when she said “You’re a rock star” as we delivered on time. And our children: “You’re my superhero, dad” when we make them fly with our arms.

We are superheroes for many people and for many reasons. Here, in real life, not in a fiction movie.

Because for many people our knowledge, our help, our strength are the superpower they need to make it.

And we are superheroes not because we have that superpower. But because we use it to help them in their cause.