As countless and timeless stories tell us, we humans have always striven for something more than our mortal talents. Stories as old as the Greek and Roman myths tell of people who had the gift of seeing the future or supernatural strength or cunning that took them far. Stories in the bible tell of the gift of speaking with animals or of healing or of being able to talk to god. We’ve always been and always will be fascinated with things that are beyond the every-day things that we can do.
I’ve heard many people ask each other what superpower they’d choose if they could. This question has always stumped me.
Mind reading? Oh no, way too horrible. I don’t want to know what everyone is thinking, because most thoughts would probably be either extremely tedious [“I’m hungry… What should I eat? Yum, grilled cheese!”] or disturbing [“What I wouldn’t do to that guy… *Rated R thoughts*”].
Invisibility? Seems depressing, in a way. Sure, it would be useful for spying on people or stalking them, but I wonder if it would be that easy to turn it on and off like that. Plus, stalking should involve more effort than that or it’s not worth it, right?
Super strength? Meh – Buffy Summers is cool, but I’ve yet to face a vampire and so I don’t really know whose face I’d want to bash in anyhow. Girl-power would be cool, but I don’t want to be scary…
I suppose the only superpower I’d really welcome would be the ability to fly at will. Being able to soar around would be wonderful, and I can’t think of a drawback to it. But really, that’s the only super-power that I can see as being worth anything.
So… how about you?
Slightly Ignorant 
If it were me id probably choose the power to teleport at will. to just be able to think of a place id want to be and juse be able to appear there would be great ^_^ plus i dont see any drawbacks for this.
oh and i love your blog!
I’m an old guy, so I’ll go for wisdom. I’d vote for flying too, but I am afraid I might fall and break a hip.
Dr. B
I don’t want any super powers, I only want to discover and release the powers that I have limited by my own thoughts and perceptions.
Correction…. I am a young guy!
Dr. B
I agree with Khnum. I would love to kiss each of my grandchildren good night each night and I’d love to be able to see my bff way more than I do living 6 hours apart. So for me, that would be awesome.
Its not really a super power… but, you know, with all the books and movies on Vampires… they are so elegant and (mostly) controlled… The Twilight series and the Anne Rice vampire chronicles… well, those vampires are so… alluring… I would be one of them… and with that comes special powers…
Otherwise… I love the idea of teleporter… Imagine being able to go and visit my mom for the day, and be home with my pooch at night. š
i love movement photographs but i never thought iād be able to produce my own. it was perfect timing for the round about photograph
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my super power would be to click my fingers & be in a different location š i would have been all over the world already
haha
x
heeh Hey I agree with Chloe – I want to be able to click and go. But there is some joy to being on a plane or a train the anticipation building until you are ready to burst. Trundling across new landscapes and seeing new countries open up before your eyes, new horizons and new vistas. Scrub that I dont want to click. But flying could be fun and cheaper? Might need special clothes.
In response – I know what you mean its just horrible the final realisation
PLEASE NOTE: This comment is in NO WAY a negative criticism of Emily’s post, so don’t even think I’m baggin’ on her!
I am struck by something which seems to be some sort of latent universal truth . . . you can write about most anything: heartbreak, birth, death, strife, whatever. People will comment here and there. But write about having super powers and people come out of the woodwork. We Americans are fascinated by the concept of a human being possessing some other-worldly power which the rest of us regular folk will never have. We seem compelled to indulge in irrational fantasies about the good we could do (or surreptitious pleasure we could experience) with such a gift.
We love our heroes because they showcase all that’s good about ourselves. I believe the majority of us are innately good and we want to believe in the ultimate good of humanity.
Winston Churchill once said that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those others that have been tried.” We love our super heroes not because of their fantastical powers (but they’re fun, of course). We love them because they embody the virtues of freedom that we all enjoy as Americans. They manifest all that’s good about the natural rights of man. They long to be us, and we them.
Hey thanks so much for the kind words – I wrote it way back when as a silly bit of fun.