About a month ago, my youngest son was enrolled in swimming lessons for the first time. He loved them! He took to it, well….like a duck to water. One day after lessons, he met me poolside with a transcendent glow on his face.

“Mom,” he exclaimed in a whisper.

Clearly, this was something big.

“I have a superpower,” he breathed, eyes shining in wonder.

Now, in a house of three boys, superheroes are a popular topic (maybe I should say three little boys, one big boy, if you count dad. And you really should.). Right now, they have all been reading through Spiderman comic books, learning an amazing amount of background info. Amazing, as in, I really do not care to ever know anything more about Spiderman. The point is, every male in the house is hooked on superheroes. So the introduction of superpowers to a conversation does not take me by surprise. What stopped me was the look on my almost-five-year-old’s face. It was a look of ardent belief.

” What is it?” I asked, leaning closer to his dripping wet body.

“I can see underwater,” he confided.

After this pronouncement, he stepped back so as to get a better look of my face. He wanted to see the amazement and wonder as I realized my little child was not just a boy, but a real, live superhero.

Well, what would you do? Tell him most people can see underwater? That keeping your eyes open too long will make them red and irritated?

I did the only thing I could do. I let me hands fall in my lap and I dropped my mouth open in shock.

“Wow,” I answered back. “You are kidding me!”

“No, Mom. Really. I went underwater, and when I opened my eyes…..I could see everything!”

I drew his towel-covered body to me for a hug, and felt him tremble in my arms as he let his new ability sink in.

Like I said, in my house, there are a lot of superheroes. It is not unusual to see a short form zoom by in a cape. We have Spiderman binders, Batman art kits, Superman costumes, and every form of Star Wars paraphanalia imaginable (with all boys you can imagine the arguements over who has to drink out of the Queen Amidala cup).

It got me thinking…what if superheroes did not use their powers? What if, for example, Superman could save a man from a bullet, but chose to go grab a quick coffee instead? Or, Luke Skywalker deciding to keep his Jedi abilities to himself. Instead of saving the universe, he would build up a nice bank account by using his mind-reading abilities in the World Series of Poker (do you know how much those guys can make?).

Crazy, isn’t it? To be given an incredible power, to be able to effect the world around you, but to choose a couch potato life instead.

Who would live like that?

Me.