(Note: There are NO spoilers in this post.)

By now you might have heard of a small, indie movie called “Black Panther.”

I haven’t seen the movie yet, and I’m hoping to finally get tickets and see it in the next few days.

I was listening to a local rock radio station one morning last week, talking about the “Black Panther” movie.

Actor Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa (aka: The Black Panther) (Image via Flickr)

Many of people in this radio station’s audience are white Millennials. (The second largest group for the station is probably white 30-somethings on the younger side of Generation X).

The morning radio show’s hosts were discussing how it seemed weird that an obscure comic series would get its own movie. One host noted that the late 1990s version of the “Black Panther” comic series ranked in sales at about 88^th place among other comic series during that time.

Because this is the first time ever that a movie has been based on an obscure book, if you don’t count “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Legally Blonde,” “Die Hard,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and the popular holiday movie “A Christmas Story,” among others.

That’s when it hit me.

Some people don’t understand the power of presence.

When a writer writes about himself or herself, it’s often to be seen. He/she writes to make others aware of the problems and struggles faced by people who are like him/her.

Invisibility is sometimes seen as a superpower.

But it sure doesn’t feel that way when society makes you feel invisible.

It feels lonely. Sometimes, it can be depressing.

And it’s frustrating because you enjoy using your talents (writing and other activities). But society keeps telling you that your talents are less worthy or not worthy at all, because you’re too old, too poor, a recent immigrant, a minority, a woman, etc.

Throughout history and currently, many writers have felt invisible to society, based on their gender, race, age, physical disabilities, sexual orientation, class status, formal education (or lack thereof) and other factors.

When we start to share our stories, we are first seen by people who are like us.

In a recent interview, Ryan Coogler, the director of the movie “Black Panther,” said he loved comic books as a kid, and he wondered if there were any black superheroes. As a child, Ryan, was once in a comic book store and he asked one of the workers if there were any comic books that had a black superhero.

The store employee showed Ryan some of the comic books from the “Black Panther” series.

If we write and share our stories well, we could then become not merely visible, but also three-dimensional, to those who don’t share our experiences.

That’s why you should keep writing and find a way to share your own story.

Your writing creates a presence.

And that presence lets people like you know that they are visible and their talents are valuable.

This empowers other people to share their stories and talents.

As writers, we can be heroes.

And we can be heroes longer than just for one day.

How will you unleash your own superpowers?

What is your superpower? How do you share your story with others? Please share with us in the comments below any lessons learned, questions or any other comments you have about writing.