The Guardian

As a story, 'The Guardian' is an attempt to humanize the oftentimes larger-than-life superhero 'genre' by asking, 'What is a hero? Is a hero still a 'hero' if all they ever do is fail? Is there ever a point when they're allowed to quit?' As a metaphor, 'The Guardian' is a examination of life, our tendency to impose unrealistic expectations on others, and how, despite our best intentions, we inevitably fail to live up to those expectations ourselves. In the midst of our failures, we have the opportunity to choose between isolation, cynicism and relational stagnation or we can choose to move forward - using the pain to spur ourselves on, while learning how to forgive others and ourselves, and realizing that, in the midst of our despair, there is always hope.