Burn the Cape. Keep the Map.

The difference between saving people and leaving behind something they can navigate.

The cape burns fast.

A map travels.

The goal is not to become indispensable to everyone I help. The goal is to leave behind language, systems, examples, and tools that remain useful when I am not in the room.

The receipt

Every time I rescued someone, the system that failed them stayed exactly as it was. Every time I handed someone a map — a rubric, a checklist, a working example, a name to call — the next person got there without me.

Rescue is the version of help that keeps the helper at the center. It feels like generosity and functions like a dependency.

What comes next

Audit what I am currently carrying that should be written down instead.