A week into May and already it feels like it’s been around for a while. It is really peculiar how much can have happened in the space of seven days: my sister out of hospital, her first book published (not for those of you with faint or fragile hearts!) and then the news of a friend’s passing. All in all, I feel like May is set to be a rollercoaster month, with ups and downs all the way along.
There are really many good things about my job. When I use the I-Love-My-Job hash tag on Twitter, I really mean it. Of course, like everyone else in the world I have bad moments as well as good, but for the vast majority of the time I would not swap my job for anything else in the world. I get to work from home and pick my own hours, but without a doubt what makes my job so wonderful are the people that I meet through it. In my role of music tutor I’ve been privileged to have been invited to attend Baptisms, Birthday Parties, Dinners, Performances and Concerts. #ILoveMyJob! But this weekend‘s funeral was a first for me.
Those who have followed my blogs since the beginning may - from the shadows of history! - recall in my very first blog the words of a friend who phoned me and told me how happy she was that she had the energy to smile that day. In many respects she prompted me to start writing about smiling, they were inspiring words from someone who really knew and understood the power of smiling. In her passing that’s how I’ll remember her, as an inspiration to smile.
But the last few weeks have not been without the customary smiles. The launching of Marvel Avengers Assemble - or just The Avengers, which is much easier to say! - has definitely given me a lot of smiles and this Saturday we’re off to see it for the second time! I do still believe in heroes, I love the Avengers and Captain America especially - let’s be honest folks, he’s definitely the best! - and I think it’s no surprise that this film has done outstandingly well at this point given global affairs and the need we all have to look up to and respect figures like these. It’s so tempting to begin a long spiel about the film and why I - and everyone I know in the world bar one! - loved this film and it has shattered box office records… But I shall resist except to say that it fills me with confidence in the human race to see that we still principally look for good overcoming evil in these films.
What sort of world would it be where we had no heroes? While there are few films that I enjoy more than superhero ones, there are heroes in all walks of life. Perhaps that is the best message to take from the Avengers, that people may not always see eye to eye, or have the same gifts and abilities as others, but it is the uniqueness and driving desire for good to overcome that can turn the most unlikely of people into heroes. You don’t need to wear a costume or have superpowers to be a hero, you only have to inspire good in people and you are a hero.
My pupil who passed away last week was a hero. The full church of mourners proved how greatly she had inspired good in people, and to me her continued smiles were amongst her most heroic deeds. They cost nothing, they weren’t always easy but they brightened the day of whoever she shared them with.
So go and watch The Avengers and see what you think, but above all: be a hero and inspire people with a smile!
