The evening was quiet with the exception of the crickets, frogs and sounds of traffic. If one stopped and listened to them, they were overwhelmingly loud. Otherwise, they amounted to white noise. Metropolis was peaceful and Clark was finishing a beer, feeling like he was ready for bed when the peal of sirens caught his attention. He was watching Scrubs and was exhausted from a day of reporting and saving idiots.

In spite of his fatigue, he leaped up from his recliner and starting pulling his red briefs over his blue spandex. He had to investigate the situation and make sure he wasn’t needed. Every night was like this. Evil’s tools, like Lex Luther and the evil Lady Gaga kept Clark busy. His charade as a normal human interacting with the people he loved and wanted to protect was difficult, but entirely worth it. Had he continued to live on Krypton- had it not been destroyed- he would have gotten more rest, wouldn’t be so different and probably would be bored with life.

An upside to being super is that one doesn’t get bags under his eyes when he doesn’t sleep more than three hours at a time, so nobody ever understood how worn out Superman was, but he didn’t mind. He had something that humanity didn’t. He could fly, had laser vision and amazing strength. Because of these, he had to protect them, even if he never was paid for the job, even when he was tired. At least the people loved him. That was payment enough for the never-ending effort.

★                    ★                    ★

When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!“

Matt 14:15-16, NASB- emphasis added

The disciples were responsible because they noticed the condition of the people. Really, it was everyone’s own fault for pursuing Jesus into the wilderness but at this point, most of them were relatively incapable of taking care of themselves without first walking all night. Not understanding their responsibility, they wanted to send the herd of humans away. Jesus wanted them to understand the obligation that came with their knowledge. He also wanted them to witness a miracle meal.

We can’t be responsible for every man or woman standing outside of Wal*Mart with a cardboard sign, but at the same time, we can’t not be responsible for some of the needs we notice, too. Heeding the call of our perception may result in a miracle, we just have to respond to what we see. By the way, our gifts are probably just as good as miracles in these instances.

Giving credit where it’s due, this was inspired after reading The Luckiest Boy in the World by Billy Coffey and Tuggin’ on Superman’s Cape by Floyd. There might also be some influence by the Crash Test Dummies in there, too (mostly because I love 90s music). Thanks friends.