What is it about?
This is a personal reflection on a conversation with my 5 year old granddaughter and her friend about whether I really am Superman as I had claimed to be which Carson defends to her friend who then challenges ,like a lawyer, my claim. All suddenly changes when I am approached by a lady in the restaurant where we ate pizza. The lady remembered me from years before when, as hospital chaplain I was with her and her family in the emergency room when her 7 year old cousin was brought in with an injury. This lady overhearing some of the Superman conversation claimed that to her I really was Superman.
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Why is it important?
This story reflects the complex picture of people's need to idealize figures especially in times of crisis.
Perspectives
I see this story as a kind of paradox. This family idealized me as Superman when actually I did the most human of all pastoral functions-be with them in a time of crisis, which as chaplains know, often takes a superhuman effort.
Dr Joseph Baroody
Baroody Pastoral Counseling
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Superman Goes to the Emergency Room, Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling Advancing theory and professional practice through scholarly and reflective publications, June 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1542305017708156.
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