My son Cash has been a fan of super heroes for as long as I can remember. Anything that can leap tall buildings in a single bound; has Spidey sense; or is able to shape shift is pretty mesmerizing to his eight-year-old sensibilities. And, truly – when you think about it – there isn’t much that is cooler then super-human powers.

The release of The Incredibles 2 was on par with holiday or birthday excitement at my house. And when the big day finally came – it didn’t disappoint.  As we were walking out of the theater, Cash said with a weighty wistfulness in his voice, “I wish I was a super hero.”

Sigh.

Don’t we all?

And man. We could really use some super heroes. There is serious evil at large that needs to be battled. Hard. Unfortunately, I do not possess the proper genes to pass to my kids the power to open portals or be invincible. But I do have the power to instill in them a sense of justice, the desire for peace, and knowledge of equality and fairness.

I’m not sure that either one of my kids could handle being exposed to the news and the actual reality of our current dystopic world. But I don’t believe that they need to be privy to the details of current events to be super heroes in training. Their day-to-day existence thus far has shown them that lack of justice, bullying, unfair favoritism or inequality, and chaos are very real. Not to mention pollution and the unstable state of our suffering environment.

And, truly – when you think about it – there isn’t much that is cooler then super-human powers.

Our kids are the ones who will be on the front lines battling an increasingly precarious world. They are being set up to have some pretty overwhelming stuff on their plates: Figuring out how to heal our weakening planet; global financial challenges; unstable immigration issues; and the illness and disease that are becoming byproducts of a widening lack of connection among humans. Much like the super heroes we love to adore – they will be serious soldiers for peace and justice.

It is our duty to prepare them.

And how do we train these future soldiers? There is no Hogwarts or Camp Half-Blood to do the job for us. Although, I do think stories of battling evil monsters go a long way. Total inspiration. There is a reason kids go around wearing capes and waving wands – Halloween season or not.

What if we stay focused on instilling a sense of fairness and standing up for the little guy? Compassion and a yearning for creating justice? Peace and taking the high road? Awareness and a sense for action when necessary? Respect for Mother Earth and a desire to tread lightly?

These are full-on super powers. Necessary super powers. Ones that come from both the intellect and the soul. This is the reason we study history and mythology. Not for the devastating, gruesome details of dark times, but for those that battle the dark. For the heroes.

God we need more heroes.

There is definitely enough dark to go around.

It is possible that perhaps our world will be more like lovely fantasy rather than grim dystopia by the time our kids are the grown-ups. I hope so.

But still. The training won’t go to waste. Rather then soldiers – we’ll have a world full of decent human beings.