It’s time to revisit the Black Widow “Avengers” quote I posted a year or two back:
“I’ve got red on my ledger. I’d like to wipe it out.”
I don’t think I fully conveyed what I wanted to get across in the original post I made in regard to this quote. And since I see that post still gets quite a few views, I thought I should define it a little better.
There are things in my life that I feel like I owe. Things I feel like I am responsible for with my life. This could easily go back to the infamous Spider-Man quote:
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
In my world, these two quotes go very well together.
I feel like an incredibly guilty person. There are things I have done and regret. There are things I feel like I owe the universe in return for everything I have received and don’t feel like I entirely deserve.
But one of the biggest things that haunts me is when someone dies. A friend, a child, a good person. Suddenly a life is gone from this world, a light blown out, and somehow that makes me even more aware of my own life and what is being done with it.
And then I become Angel. the Girl Who Wants to Save the World.
I become the girl who does random acts of kindness, not to earn religious brownie points, not to ‘look good’, not for any reason other than I know it’s good and I need more good things in my life, because they make me happy. Helping other people just honestly makes me happy. It makes me feel like my existence isn’t a waste of air.
My ledger is gushing red still, but I use these good things to help wipe it out in my own mind.
Because in my mind, I don’t deserve to be alive. Not compared to some of these people that have died.
I have to live the best life I can. I have to travel and love and live, I have to put more good out into the world. For them. For all of the lives that ended too soon.
So, I try to brighten the days of others. I try to make people laugh when they want to cry. I try to show people an alternative to just the mundane routine, or to the destructive lifestyles. I try to inspire. I try to donate where I can, or raise money. I try to support the dreams of others, because we all seem to die the moment our dreams do. I try to give, big things and little things. Because not everyone has the same opportunities that I have had. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have the power to help them get those same chances.
I have a great power, and I am responsible for making the most of it. And I am. I will continue to do so.
I know this is a weird post, but I feel like I needed an adequate follow-up to the first “Red on my ledger” post.
~Angel
Misadventures of a Misfit 