Speaking of Spiderman...

Last night I watched the first Spiderman movie for the first time, and was immediately sucked in by the intrigue, messy plot, high action, and growing character of Spiderman. One of my favorite parts is when his uncle tells him "With great power comes great responsibility." After that throughout the movie, he discovers what it means to be responsible, doing what's right even if it's painful or hard. Spiderman is no saint, of course, but that is a good moral to think about. Last night after the movie it hit me - Speaking of Spiderman,there have been times where I've gained a little more "power" so to speak, as well as responsibility, in the past few years. Slowly things came to me that I had forgotten, or had not realized were important, that connected with this interesting premise.
I remember the first time I held a newborn baby. I was nine years old at a saints day party, dressed in full costume regalia, when Mrs. Green asked me to hold baby Angelica who wasn't even 2 weeks old. I had never held a baby so tiny before, and the only thought running through my 9-year-old head was I hope I don't drop her! I paid extra attention to holding her tight and not bumping into anyone, because I had gained a small, though very real power to my little 4th grade mind - holding a little life in my hands:)
Before I joined the TGN group, I was "the big man on campus" in Sacred Heart homeschool group, because I was one of the very oldest. At the get-togethers and family parties, the little kids, whenever they wanted to organize a group game, make an "announcement," or there was a problem, would come to some of us older ones (aka Hannah Monnin and I:) and ask us to lead the charge or solve the issue. They would copy us in small ways, like phrases we would say, or whether or not to take our shoes off in the house, little things like that, but nevertheless I always knew I was being looked up too, I had the leading power. Besides my mom's strong guiding hand, knowing that If I did something wrong, the younger kids would hear about and maybe try it made me think more before I acted and kept me out of trouble. Something I learned that was especially valuable was sometimes not acting my age, in a good way. If the younger ones couldn't go out to walk around the Monnin's very large property, I learned to encourage them to stay in the yard and lead by example, although I was very well old enough to go if I wanted too. If the company or activity was geared towards a younger age, I basically learned to follow the rules of that age group at that time, being responsible by leading others on the right way with my actions. That's something I'm still trying to learn how to do, as we all are...
When I got my license, I was very aware as I pulled out of the driveway by myself for the first time that I had my our life in my hands, as well as the others on the road. It's a real power, and a great responsibility, because your performance can determine the saving or losing of a life. I started that first drive with a prayer, and pray often when I drive now. :)
On a different level, another power came when I was about 13 or 14 and actually realized I was a female. Before that I had known it in theory, but it wasn't until I could some guys looking at me ("oddly", I thought) that I realized a had a different sort of power that every girl has. That was kinda scary at first, I had no idea what to do with this knowledge that guys could like me. With a lot of help from my mom, and a decent amount of embarrassing scrapes, slowly I learned the responsibility that came with that power - dress modestly, don't flirt, don't be alone with a guy, and no wrestling! (which was the hardest for me, actually, because I used to love to roughhouse when I was very little:) These are the awkward, random things I learned, that everyone has to learn to grow up a little more:) With that power came a great, awesome responsibility that I'm still learning how to follow.

Even though these little powers are unruly and hard sometimes, learning responsibility and skillfully wielding our "powers", or choosing not to, because it is right, is an adventure equal to swinging from the tops of skyscrapers.