A world full of heroes.

With a moniker like The Cranky Copywriter, it's only natural to assume that I am a crabby misanthrope.

Not totally true. In fact, I can become a slobbering sentimentalist about certain news stories, like the two I saw this week. One was about a woman named Lisa Vasiloff, a mother of two, who created a charity called Birthday Wishes. Her mission, begun 11 years ago, is to make sure that homeless children in shelters are not cheated out of birthday parties because of temporary dire straits. She now arranges parties for 186 shelters across three states. To date she has made certain that 48,000 children in shelters have had a birthday celebration with cake, ice cream, and presents. The other story involves several window-washing service in cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee. To brighten the lives of the young and often frightened patients in hospitals, the window washers dress as superheroes to perform their aerial services. Needless the kids are thrilled to see Spiderman and Captain American high in the air, seeming to fly just outside their windows. The idea, which has spread to several children's hospital throughout the country was the idea of 23-year-old Steve Oszaniec of the Chicago-based American National Skyline window cleaning company.