Superhero mathematics

When it comes to saving the world, Superheroes don't count the way regular people do.

When doing a good deed, regular people count only the people they can see. If they were to stop a runaway bus that had 30 riders, they would say, "I saved 30 people today."

Sometimes regular people who give service don't even count people. Instead they count the frequency with which their service was given. They don't think, "I saved 50 people from hunger today." They say, "I served 50 meals today." Counting meals or things devalues the service. Service is counted by the number of people who are influenced by that act of kindness, not just the ones who received the service.

Superheroes don't count bodies or things. They count everyone whose life will ever touch the people saved in a single act of service. One person is not just one person. When a single individual is helped along the road of life-- the number helped is not "one." Superheroes know that their "count" only starts with that one person. If that person has children, superheroes know that their kindness is extended to those children-- and to the children's children and the children's children's children. If that one person had friends, the act of service may influence the lives of those friends. And the friends' children and the friends' children's children. The circle grows to include the children's friends and the friends' friends and on and on.

Superheroes know that doing good spreads like the ripples in a pond from the point of impact, spreading out to people and places that they cannot see. One good deed may change the lives of hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of people-- from one generation to the next and then to still another.

Kindness and tiny acts of service are not counted using simple arithmetic where one plus one equals two. Superheroes understand that service is counted exponentially-- 10 times 10 times 10 times 10 and on into infinity.

Regular people who are out to save the world look for extraordinary circumstances-- they think that one has to save LOTS of people to make a difference. Superheroes know that one quiet act of service extended during a single person's most desperate hour can make a difference to generations of people.

That's why superheroes just go out there and do good. It isn't necessary to count people or things-- the counting will take care of itself.