Day Three Prompt: If you had a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
Hmmm ... a superpower. What would it be? What would I most like to have as a superpower? And if I did use it, would it benefit some without causing harm to others?
For example, mind-reading ... if I could read others' minds, recognizing truth vs lies, courage vs bravado, honesty vs deception ... what would I do with that knowledge? Would I make my power known publicly, as Superman did? Or would I hide my power from others to protect myself from those seeking power over others? Would I be so distracted by others' thoughts that I would lose awareness of my own? Or would I use that knowledge to try to intercede in conflicts about to be, in the optimistic belief that I could make a difference if only I knew what motivated the disagreements ... or would that intervention serve only to make things worse?
Or would I want a superpower that was physically beneficial? If I suddenly became invincibly strong, able to lift great weights, or dive to great depths, or climb mountains tirelessly, or run endlessly at great speeds... perhaps that strength would have value a hundred years ago, but technology today can help people do all of that virtually, communally, through immediate technological communications, explorations, and demonstrations.
Could I have a superpower that would make a difference in the world's political arena? If I were able to implant positive, peaceful motivations in world leaders' minds leading to the recognition that, regardless of geographic location or economic situations we ought to act as one united human race, protecting our planet from further devastation, pollution, and consumption? Would my priorities, my beliefs, my values and my humility and altruistic desires serve to better the human race's situation? Could I make the best decisions?
If I had a superpower in my brain, a creative discovery of the best way to grow enough crops in even the worst climates and soils, to help every area on earth become self-sustaining and not dependent, would it allow various cultures to retain their identities without retaining their legacies of hardship, starvation and disease? Could such a brain recognize and share natural disease treatments? Would the population then increase exponentially across the globe? How many years would the natural resources last? Would a super-powered brain be able to plan for that?
I'm not a super-powered being. I'm a rational American, one who has followed the rules, set goals, and worked toward them, accomplishing much along the way and learning to accept the shortfalls that come with life. I think often of the word Namaste ... translated by Mother Teresa to "I see God in every human being" and by the people of Hindu belief as "I recognize and bow to the divine in you, as you do in me." If we all could accept that premise of life, what a beautiful race we could be, with the superpower of respect.
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