I Wore a Superman Shirt

As I went out today, I wore a Superman shirt with a red overshirt that somewhat acted like a cape. Some people, when they saw me dressed this way, commented on it, and that had a strange effect on me. It made me nicer.

I am normally already a fairly nice person. I am usually friendly and polite. But I found that it was easier to be friendly and polite when I knew that others saw me as being dressed like Superman.

I call this a strange effect because I'm not entirely sure why it happened. Why did I feel to be nicer than normal while I was in public in a Superman shirt? Superman is a good person. Was I trying not to spoil his image as a good person? That hardly makes any sense. Superman is fictional. His image doesn't matter. Was I trying to live up to other's expectations? Not really. One person who pointed out that I was Superman was still surprised when I opened a door for her, and I highly doubt that the customers in front of me expected me to share my coupons with them. I was exceeding their expectations, but why?

I think that my behavior may have been mostly caused by some associative logic. Superman is a good person, and I was, to some extent, Superman. Therefore, I was a good person, and I acted like it. Associating myself with a good person helped me to be a good person. Now, doesn't that sound familiar?

We are Christians. Christians are people who try to follow and emulate Jesus Christ. Christ was a good person, and we try to be like Christ; therefore, we try to be good people, at least in theory. By associating ourselves with Jesus, we can encourage ourselves to live as He lived and act as He acts, if only for the sake of His image or of meeting or improving others' expectations of Christians.

Today, I acted more like Superman because I associated myself with him. Tomorrow, I will try to associate myself with and act more like Jesus Christ.