Pavlovitz - Hope and other superpowers: a life affirming, love-defending, butt-kicking, world-saving manifesto

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PRAISE FOR

HOPE

AND OTHER SUPERPOWERS

Heroes are everywhere, we just need the eyes to see them. In Hope and Other Superpowers , with clarity and conviction, John helps us remember that the people who will save the world are already herethat we are those people.

Rosie ODonnell, actor and activist

I dog-eared so many pages in this book, it no longer closes all the way! Filled with inspiring stories, exquisite language, and tender moments about ordinary people finding extraordinariness within themselves, Johns book filled me with a renewed sense of wonder for the humanity we all share.

R. J. Palacio, author of Wonder

Powerful voices like John Pavlovitzs give Americans hope and direction despite the dire state of our democracy. Johns insight and advice for fighting for change will serve as a modern moral compass for anyone willing to get to work. We are the superheroes weve been waiting for, and John gives us very specific directions on how to fashion our capes, tie them tightly, and then take flight.

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action

In his new book, Hope and Other Superpowers , Pavlovitz reminds us that in a world that seems dangerous and confusing, all the answers exist in our own humanity. Small acts of compassion and kindness are powerful. The author shares a plan for living a life of activism through ones own humanity. The idea is to not be intimidated by the cruelty around us, but to live boldly and to expose the worlds beauty through our actions and words. Ultimately, in order to regain a sense of good in this country, a sense of community and concern for all, its up to us. While that may seem like a daunting task, its really not. Pavlovitz simplifies the path in this book and reminds us how powerful humanity can be.

Steve Kerr, head coach, Golden State Warriors

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Copyright 2018 by John Pavlovitz

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition November 2018

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Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui

Cover design by Ryan Raphael

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pavlovitz, John, author.

Title: Hope and other superpowers : a life affirming, love-defending, butt-kicking, world-saving manifesto / John Pavlovitz.

Description: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018015318| ISBN 9781501179655 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501179679 (trade paper) | ISBN 9781501179662 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Heroism. | Hope. | Caring. | Humanitarianism. | Social action.

Classification: LCC BJ1533.H47 P38 2018 | DDC 170/.44dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018015318

ISBN 978-1-5011-7965-5

ISBN 978-1-5011-7966-2 (ebook)

This book is dedicated with great affection to my mother, Ginny Pavlovitz.

Since before I was born, youve given me a front row seat to a heroic life.

I love you and I love being your son.

And to the LGBTQ community, for waking up every day, bravely walking out into the world, and being superheroes.

I can remember when I first figured out that I wasnt a superhero. I was around six years old, running through the woods behind our house, when I came upon an imposing section of rusted barbed wire in my path. It might have been a formidable obstacle for any mortal child, but certainly, Id concluded, not for me. Weaned on a healthy diet of comic books and Saturday morning cartoons, I was fully confident that my latent supernatural abilities were ready to spring forth and my impending mythical career fighting injustice and tyranny was about to begin in dramatically soundtracked fashion. Without blinking, I doubled my resolve and sprinted harder toward the fence, fueled by the excitement that this would be my grand origin story, the moment the planet would be forever altered by the birth of a legend. With only a few feet to go before I collided with the twisted strands of metal, I launched myself from the ground, anticipating that I would soon be transcending not only the fence but the surrounding treetops as well on my way to glory. I came about a fence and some treetops short. Four decades later the large scar on my left calf is a permanent, tangible reminder of the day when I proved to be just a little bit less than super. I imagine you, too, carry both the visible (and hidden) scars of the times you tried to fly and instead came crashing hard down to earth, days you faced your mortality and skinned your knee.

The desire for significance is buried deep within all of us. We all hope to leave a lasting mark on this place in the brief sliver of time were here, to have lives fueled by purpose and filled with joyto craft legacies that long outlive us. We all want to do something decidedly super , and most of us begin our journeys believing that we can, fully expecting to be extraordinary. But somewhere along the way, we find ourselves weakened by the pain and disappointment in our path, by our perceived shortcomings and missteps, by cruel words we receive, and by the disheartening circumstances in which we find ourselves. Or maybe we begin to dwell on the swirling, ever-present storm of bad news, until were gradually overtaken by a growing sense of helplessness in the face of it all. Little by little, sometimes almost undetectably, all these internal doubts and exterior obstacles prevent us from aspiring to the rarefied air we once believed our destiny. Instead, we resign ourselves to the muddy ruts of the ordinary, deciding that this is good enough, that we shouldnt bother reaching for more, or doing more, or believing that any kind of more is actually even possible. And yet, at no point in recent memory have these kinds of apathy and cynicism been more dangerous, because the world you and I are standing on is in desperate need of people still willing to reach and do and believe and, most of all, to be fierce caretakers of hope.