There’s a scene in Spider-Man 2 (2004) where Peter Parker has, for the time being, given up the superhero gig. He’s been walking on air from that weight being lifted off his shoulders, but he soon learns that abdicating responsibility is not the same thing as freedom. As usual it falls to his Aunt May to talk some sense into him. Thanks to its use in the opening of the film’s theatrical trailer, Rosemary Harris’ reading of one key line is indelibly etched into my brain.

“I believe there’s a hero in all of us,” she says, going on to describe the importance of positive role models and the necessity of personal sacrifice for the greater good. It’s just as much a lesson for Peter Parker in that moment as it is for Spider-Man, delivered in that pitch perfect knowing-but-ambiguous Aunt May style.

We are living through dark, seemingly hopeless times. For many in my country and across the world, it feels as if the villains have won. The most vulnerable members of our communities are being explicitly targeted, progress towards a more fair and equitable society for all people is being actively erased, and our opposition party leaders do not appear to be answering the urgent call to action of this moment with any level of credibility. That means it’s up to us to make things right.

Now is not the time to lose hope. Now is not the time to recede into our creature comforts and throw our hands up in helpless exasperation. Now is the time for ALL of us to stand up and resist, to strongly rebuke the regressive direction things are heading and give voice to the values we hold in our hearts.

This duty falls especially on those of us with the power and privilege to do so with relatively little risk to our own personal safety.

I am an American-born straight cisgender white man. That comes with a heck of a lot of privilege. I’m also a Jew. My maternal great-grandmother and her family fled Eastern Europe to escape persecution and arrived in the U.S. to pursue the promise of a better life where all are welcome to succeed and thrive, regardless of who you are or where you came from. It absolutely boils my blood to see Americans, particularly our elected leaders, espouse the idea that this country should pick and choose who deserves basic human rights and opportunity, and who does not. Nothing could be more antithetical to the very ideas that, dare I say it, once made this country “great”.

Interestingly, in at least one Spider-Man adaptation Peter Parker is explicitly portrayed as being Jewish. There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse where astute viewers will notice that Peter B. Parker, the variant of Spider-Man we meet in the movie who most closely aligns with the “original” depiction of the character, is revealed to be a Jew: while recalling his wedding to Mary Jane, we see that he participated in the Jewish good luck tradition of stomping on a glass to close the ceremony.

This pays homage to Spider-Man’s co-creator Stan Lee, himself a Jew like many of the comics writers of the era who created the most enduring characters of the medium. It also fits perfectly with the values and struggles that Spider-Man has always embodied.

Peter Parker knows what it feels like to be persecuted, to be unfairly painted as a menace to society just for existing and trying to do the right thing. He knows what it means to have to conceal his true identity out of fear for his own safety and that of his loved ones. And perhaps most importantly, he firmly believes in the sanctity of all human life and the absolute moral obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us who are not able to defend themselves.

One of my favorite issues of The Amazing Spider-Man comic book that I’ve read is issue #801, the capper to an impressive decade-long run by Dan Slott, another Jewish writer. In this heartwarming issue we follow a man-on-the-street character named Kenneth who was rescued by Spidey in his early days from an armed robbery. We watch this man progress through decades of life after the incident, and bear witness to the many ways that he is able be there for his family and friends over the years. Near the end of the issue, after another run-in with Spidey, he defends to his young niece Judy the hero’s importance in comparison to more prominent in-universe heroes such as the Avengers who regularly stand up against world-ending stakes.

Judy: Lame.

Kenneth: What’s so “lame” about that? Judy, we just saw Spider-Man! In action! That’s amazing!

Judy: First time I ever get to see a super hero up close. Like, not on TV. And it has to be Spider-Man. Like, why couldn’t it have been Thor, Captain Marvel, or Black Panther? Those guys are cool. When they save the day, they save the whole world.

Kenneth: Spider-Man does that too.

Judy: Nuh-uh.

Kenneth: Yup, he saves a world every single day.

Across a gorgeous two-page spread from artist Marcos Martín, Kenneth explains that every individual means the world to somebody else, and so saving one person’s life is equivalent to saving the entire world. This is a profound concept, and a reminder that we all have the capacity to save the world in our own ways.

The idea also happens to have roots in Jewish religious text, with early Jewish scholars teaching that “Whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.”

It must be said, it is beyond disappointing to see how often even members of my own community fail to live up to this ideal, or choose to selectively interpret it such as to restrict its application to their own in-groups.

In this moment in time, it’s a valuable lesson to keep in mind. Even the smallest actions have big consequences in the long run. If we all choose to live by our values, protect and support each other when we are able, and work to prevent as much harm as we can from being inflicted upon those around us, we can and will make a difference. The world cannot be saved in a single fell swoop. We don’t live in a comic book. But small acts of kindness, and tiny victories for justice and equality, are liable to add up to a better world for everyone.