I was going through my archives and came across this post I wrote back in 2013 for a site I no longer run. I figured it was worth posting again. Back in November 2013, the Make-A-Wish Foundation turned San Francisco into ‘Gotham City’ to grant a wish for Miles Scott, a young boy with leukemia and a love of Batman. There’s a video at the end with more details about the event.
Recently there was a notable news story about ‘Batkid’, also known as Miles Scott, a five year old recovering from leukemia. As part of his Make-A-Wish Foundation request Miles became ‘Batkid’ for a day. Along with an adult Batman he was driven around San Francisco in a Lamborghini designed to look like the Batmobile. He rescued a damsel in distress, stopped villains, and saved the city. Thousands gathered to line the streets and cheer him on.
This is an amazing outpouring of generosity and support for a kid who has been through some rough times. I applaud all those involved who took the time and put in the effort to co-ordinate the many tasks that were needed to pull this off. I’m sure it was a complex undertaking and getting it to happen so smoothly took a lot of work from a lot of people.
But here’s the thing. Why is this unusual and so noteworthy of media attention? I certainly don’t mean to detract from what is a great gesture but why is this not the norm? This was a lot effort for just one child for one day. It was for a very worthy cause. And yet, there are so many children with similar wishes that don’t get granted. I would even extend that out to say that everyone has at least one grand wish that they want granted but goes unfulfilled in their lifetime.
Well, you say, I can’t spend all my time putting this much effort into making everyone’s dream come true. It is too much effort. It is more than I can do.
It is. Its more than anyone one person can do. But one person doesn’t have to do a lot. You can do small things that add up to large things. You can use your experience to teach something to someone who needs the help. If you can’t do that, then you might at least be able to point them in the right direction. You can spend a little time and energy to help someone out. Just an hour or two could make a big difference.
Helping each other out should be the norm, not the exception. If we all just went out of our way just a few hours a week we could make the world so much better. If we can’t go out of our way to help someone else, at least we should work on not being in someone’s way.
Because in the end, we’re all Batkid and we all need a little help attaining our dreams.
And here’s the official video about the event, put together by the Make-A-Wish Foundation:
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum