My Secret Identity is the Source of Your Power

• Mild-mannered Clark Kent
• Newsboy Peter Parker
• Recluse Tony Stark
• Millionaire Bruce Wayne
• Scrawny recruit Steve Rogers
• Scientist David Banner
• Gentle Ben Grimm

We know them all, but we wouldn’t know any if it weren’t for their alter-ego. The Superhero they turn into when they put on the suit and strap on the mask (or take off the glasses, or burst the seams on their shirts; thank goodness not their pants). All of them are mild-mannered and unassuming in real life, but when they put on the mask…Super!

Funny that Marvel comics has us rooting for these masked heroes. I wonder if we would if we didn’t know they were real people like us. Mild, timid, reclusive, shy, scrawny, nerdy, temperamental. We are tempted to put on many masks in life, attempting to be who we aren’t, hiding from things we don’t want to see, pretending so other people won’t know the real us under there. What if we used our masks to put on our “hidden” identity instead?

People may mistake me for mild-mannered Soccer mom, but really I am Fit2Finish!! (cue music for takeoff) Crusader for stronger, faster, safer athletes! I am even getting a suit made (aka putting my logo on sportswear) so I have it for training. When I put it on I will know I am a Superhero, clothed by God in shades of blue and green. No one needs to know I am Soccer Mom, Wendy LeBolt, except me.

Let’s keep it a secret. Because no one believes in a Superhero unless they have a secret identity. Unmask him! is what their nemesis always wants. Because once their identity is known, the gig is up. Their power seeps out from the suit; in street clothes, they are nothing. It’s the duality – the Super together with the human underneath – that is powerful.

Whoa! How did she know that? Wow! How did she do that? Geez! Where did that come from?

I don’t have Superpowers, just Fit2Finish knowledge and experience. But if they believe in what I am doing they discover the power in themselves. That’s the secret.

The power is not really in the mask. Don’t tell.