The Power of 2 (or 2 Million)

Everyone has a childhood superhero.  Perhaps this inspiring character is fictional, but many may be real.  The fighter pilot taking to the skies at lightning speed; the singer in a metal band with a guitar that can rattle the ground beneath your feet; or a man with wings perched on top of the Empire State Building, waiting to catch the next cowardly robber.

As we grow older, we foster a collection of role models.  Some may become our heroes, while others are simply people that teach us how to live.  Collectively as a society we tend to hold these heroes as the true elite, idolized figures who have reached beyond the boundaries of human talent and ability to set an example for who we should all become.  Consequently, we have developed a very narrow definition of talent, and, more alarmingly, have come to place value on only certain types of people doing certain types of work.

Imagine that the sanitation workers who collect our garbage every week just stopped showing up.  We'd be in a world of hurt.  Yet the "trash man" has unofficially become the first job people make fun of.  There may be no glory in it, but their work is absolutely essential to the way the community operates.

In light of the upcoming elections, let's take this idea ever further: what if every senator and congressman were running for the office of President?  And, as if that wasn't wild enough, each of the candidates promised to resign from their current positions if they weren't elected President.  All of a sudden, there is one very qualified, "successful" person with no one to rely on for any kind of systematic support.

But don't we fit this mold constantly in the world of music?  Everyone wants to be the next best performer, conductor, or legend.  In reality, the people who we perceive as the most successful are merely the part of the iceberg that is visible above the water; beneath are countless, hardworking supporters who have just as much talent, ability, and dedication.  No one stays after a concert to meet the stagehands who set up the one hundred chairs and stands for the orchestra, but without them nothing could happen.  Likewise, that guy playing second part in the trumpet section is working just as hard as the first, but he gets little recognition because he is seen as nothing more than a follower.

Throughout life we will fill many roles, sometimes following and other times leading.  And while we may never be that superhero like we dreamed, we can always be a role model to others.  Just talk to the janitor you saw on your way in this morning.