(I completely missed this story in 2012. It’s still good enough to share today.)
Anthony Smith is a little boy from New Hampshire that suffers from the chromosomal disorder Mosaic trisomy 22. One effect of the disorder is that Anthony is deaf in his right ear and mostly deaf in his left.
Anthony didn’t want to wear his blue hearing device (nicknamed the “blue ear” by his family). The reason: Superheroes don’t wear hearing aids.
Desperate for a solution, Anthony’s mom Christina decided to send Marvel Comics an email. They knew the superhero world best. Maybe there was a character who wore a hearing aid?
Marvel responded. They sent her a comic cover from the 80s and told her, “Not only do super heroes in fact where hearing aids, but that Hawkeye, an actual Avenger, wears them and that if Anthony wore his, he’d become an honorary Avenger.”
The story doesn’t stop there.
The artists at Marvel designed a comic featuring a new hero: Blue Ear. Anthony was ecstatic. He began wearing his hearing aid (to listen for those in trouble, of course), showed off the comic to his friends, and inspired his teachers to organize a ‘Dress Like a Super Hero’ event.
What if the Marvel artists had said “We’re too busy” or “We can’t take on any extra work right now” instead? Christina’s email was sent to a general fan address at Marvel. It could have easily been ignored.
Sounds completely ridiculous doesn’t it?
I bet you have chances to do this kind of thing too. What if we approached each day as a chance to make magic moments for our customers and fans? We might not make the front page of CNN or Huffington Post, but what’s the value in showing we care?
Time spent delighting is time well spent.
