Super Me?

by Karen M. Leet

Oh, how I wanted to be a superhero.

More than anything else in the whole entire world I wanted it. To be a superhero. To fight for the right. To be there whenever anyone anywhere needed me.

I wanted to be bold. And brave. Strong and courageous. I wanted to help people – to save them from evil in all its forms.

Oh, how much I wanted to be a superhero. It was all I wanted. All I ever wanted.

But as I got older – grew up some – of course. I could see that there were no real superheroes. No men of steel. No men who could fly. Or leap tall buildings.

I started to face reality. The real world. And it hurt. Just a little. To let go of my childhood dream. To face the real world.

To let go of my childhood hopes.

At some point I learned about law. About law and order. About the legal world.

What I saw of the law – lawyers and judges, courtrooms, trials and prison. That soothed my longing for justice.

If I became a lawyer, I could go after the bad guys. Go to court. Gather evidence. Go after the bad guys, bring justice to a world desperately needing it.

So, my hopes and dreams shifted from the childhood goal of being a superhero. To save people from evil. To care for them, protect them, be sure they got justice.

I could go after the bad guys in court. I liked that. I liked that a lot. So, that’s what I did.

But then I met someone who had a different experience. Not a superhero. Not a legal eagle.

No, this person was called a whistleblower. This person was a quiet presence, a behind-the-scenes kind of person. This person spoke up when trouble was just raising its ugly head. This person called out evil before it came to court, before it spread and grew, before it caused harm or pain to anyone else.

How did they do this? How could they make something happen to stop real harm in its tracks? Because this person could talk to someone called a compliance and ethics professional. This person just spoke up to someone else in their company who worked to stop evil before it got so big that it hurt others. The whistleblower spoke up for what was right before anyone else even saw evil coming. Then the compliance and ethics professional worked quietly, behind the scenes, followed up from the whistleblower’s warning – to stop wrongdoing before there were any victims. Before anyone got hurt. Before anyone wound up in court or prison.

This whistleblower became the quiet voice warning of trouble. And the compliance person was this hero’s teammate.

This stopped me cold. I could learn more about ethics, about compliance, about helping to halt evil before it claimed victims.

I could become a compliance professional. I could learn how to deal with evil before it grew into a force of destruction. I could learn to listen to warnings of potential accidents, potential wrongdoing, potential crimes or law breaking.

It was as if it all exploded inside me. As if everything I’d ever wanted, ever believed in, ever hungered for had fallen into my lap. Had claimed my heart.

I learned, as I became a compliance and ethics professional – I learned that I could be there for those with the courage to speak up. I could work behind the scenes to prevent wrongdoing and protect others from harm. I could be a superhero just as I’d always hoped and dreamed I would be.

I learned I could make a difference in this world of ours.

What do you think?

Do you sometimes feel like a superhero?

Why or why not?

Would you like to be a superhero?

These are stories (usually fictional, but not always), based on insights and experiences from the world of compliance & ethics.

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