At the end of the movie Spiderman the audience broke into spontaneous applause.

I loved hearing the excitement that comes when good triumphs over evil. It feels good to know that we Americans still value and applaud heroes and a theme with a clear moral.

The message in this film is that great power comes with great responsibility, another look at noblesse oblige - the long held obligation of those nobly blessed to look out for those less fortunate.

I don't think we ever lost our yearning for heroes and noble goals but for years there was a murmuring in the land that there were no heroes left, no quest for the holy grail. In September it became abundantly clear that there are heroes all around us, had been heroes all around us; we just hadn't been paying attention to them.

I've wondered if we have fewer heroes than in the past or if we've somehow just overlooked the ones we've had all along? I think it's that we've overlooked the heroes or perhaps just focused on the wrongdoers. It's not that firefighters and police haven't been risking their lives every day across our great land, it's just that our news has found the tale of the devils more exciting. I hope that is changing.

aybe there are so many heroes that they are commonplace and the devils stand out because they are in the minority. Do you know more good, responsible, everyday heroes than you know devils? I do.

For too long the concept of great responsibility inherent in great power lay dormant, revived dramatically last September when we realized that our firefighters and police officers are among the noblest of us all.

In contrast, we have the example of total abdication of responsibility contrasted ironically in the scandal of priests. Were it not for the appearance of real heroes in our national life, would we not throw up our hands in despair?

Recently I saw a short interview with a teenage music superstar. He was polite, appreciative, respectful -- advocating taking days off to be home with his children. This is a message that young people were hearing from an idol. Great power, great responsibility.

It's not just teen idols and hero firefighters that need to set standards. It is every one of us. The more powerful or influential or recognizable we are, the greater our responsibility. And perhaps the greater our responsibility is exercised correctly, the more powerful, influential and recognizable we become.

When Becky Adams won a seat on Chesapeake City Council last month, she cited this principle of giving back. This energetic lady has lived the theory, which is probably what accounted for a newcomer to politics getting elected with so little expenditure of money. Her dedicated service to the community spoke loudly and clearly.

Politicians and teachers and ministers and doctors and lawyers and neighbors next door all matter. Each and every one of us shows by our behavior what we believe and advocate. We all have some power. We also have responsibility. Let's use it responsibly. Let's be the example.

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.