Our words and actions have power

I’ve been thinking about something and I figure that it’s a pretty good time to talk about it since there aren’t any recent incidents and it’s unlikely that anyone will think I’m singling them out and trying to lay blame when I’m truly not. I don’t like to blame. I like to overlook unfortunate choices and, at worst, forgive mistakes.
Okay, here’s what I wanted to say: We are more powerful than we often realize. I mean, what is power? It’s influence. And whether we like it or not, people often listen to us. Why? Because they look up to us and they sometimes think we know something that they don’t or mistakenly believe we’re better people than them. We call ourselves Real-Life Superheroes and while I’m not saying it’s a lie, it is a term with a bit of exaggeration at times.  But our optimistic civilian friends believe it. The media at times believes it. And I believe it of most of you.
So when we speak and act, it’s important that we do it well and wisely. When I represent myself as Geist,  I know that I’m no longer the schlep who drags his butt out of bed and goes into work with too little sleep and sweats under pressure and screws up royally sometimes.
No, when I’m Geist, whether online or on the streets, I need to be a whole lot better than that. I have to be kind, polite and at the top of my game. Because people look to me, for whatever reason and I no longer just represent me, but what I say or do could reflect on all of the other RLSHs and terribly damage their reputations as a group as their choices could terribly damage mine.
So when we assume the identity of our individual and unique heroic counterparts, consider that to a degree, we represent each other as well as ourselves. I’ve screwed up on the streets and made every effort not to repeat any incident that had poor results. I’ve said things online in both public and private forums that I later regretted and found to be less than worthy of the voice of a Real-Life Superhero.
But over the years, as I continue doing this, I think I’m also learning little by little what not to say, what comment to delete, what argument not to participate in, and when not to disappoint those who believe I’m a better person than maybe I really am without the mask.
I know the media is watching us, waiting for us to falter, our civilian fans are looking to us with hope and our RLSH brothers and sisters are expecting us to be as solid and worthy of respect as they are.
As a Real-Life Superhero, we don’t just represent ourselves. We represent each other.
And if it’s never crossed your mind before, a lot of RLSHs have wondered aloud if as a group, we might be a paragraph in a history book someday. How do you want to be remembered?