Being a Hero: A Compassion Post

Just this morning, I saw this painted toddler's ride-on coupe on Facebook, and I shared it on my husband's Facebook Wall, commenting, "I think B needs his own Batmobile." 

Every child dreams of being a hero at some point, don't they? The storyline might look a bit different. It might involve firefighters, cops, cowboys, soldiers, comic book superheroes with super-powers. Or it might be being a president, saving wild animals from going extinct, rescuing a puppy, being a teacher. 

Whatever it looks like, I think in our hearts, we all want to be a hero when we are children.

And then we grow up. And things, unimportant things, begin to take an overinflated place in our lives. We think the kind of house we live in is of utmost significance. The cars we drive. Even the type of food we eat and where we buy it has become a status symbol. We have so much stuff, and like it or not, it's really all about us.

And we forget about being heroes. 

Because being a hero means helping others.

Children need heroes. Children need people to look to for inspiration, to be an example of what being human is about. Children need people to take care of them, to know that they are safe, to know they are loved.

These children need heroes. 

Some of them have been waiting a long time for their hero to come and rescue them out of their lives of intense, desperate poverty. Some of them have been waiting over 200 days. 

Will you be their hero today?

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Learn the facts about poverty 

and how it affects children in need and their families.

• Every day 1,500 women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth that could have been prevented. Each day 10,000 newborns die within a month of birth, and daily the same number of babies are also born dead.
• Children under age 18 make up nearly 48 percent of the population of the world's least developed countries, compared with 21 percent of the population of the world's industrialized nations.
• More than 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity and modern forms of energy.
• Over 1.4 billion people in the developing world live below the poverty line (U.S.$1.25 per day).
• Annual world economy breaks down like this: 1. Low Income, $935 or less: 37%
  2. Lower Middle Income, $936 to $3,705: 38%
  3. Upper Middle Income, $3,706 to $11,455: 9%
  4. High Income, $11,456 or more: 16%
• In developing countries, approximately 130 million children and teens — age 17 or under — have lost one or both parents.
• More than 9 million children under age 5 die each year. Two-thirds of these deaths — more than 6 million every year — are preventable.
• Approximately one-third of the world's poor people live in India.

*Facts from Compassion's Poverty page.