At one point or another, we’ve all been asked, “if you could have one superpower, what would it be?”

I’ve given this some thought.

I did a trusty little google search of all the “possible” superpowers in the world, and came up with this list (top 10 since there were millions):

1. Telepathy
2. High speed
3. Flight
4. X-Ray vision
5. Time control
6. Invisibility
7. Invincibility
8. Incredible strength
9. Elasticity
10. Blow things up with your mind

Sidenote: There is an actual forum where people talk about the superpowers they want to have and what they would do with them. This is a snippet of a post – cracked me up. “Captain Planet, he’s our hero. Gonna take pollution down to zero. He’s our powers, magnified, cause he’s fighting on the planet side!” Oh yeah. These people exist.

Let’s talk about these superpowers and possible pros and cons.

Telepathy is equivalent (for the most part) to reading people’s minds. I think a lot of people jump to this as their superpower of choice because a) it seems cool and b) it sounds like a good idea at that time. But, if you think about it, it would kind of be scary to read people’s minds. It’s like in that movie, “What Women Want.” Mel Gibson can hear what all of these women are thinking. Sometimes it’s good, like when he’s out on a date and he asks the woman questions based on what she’s thinking about. But other times, it’s not so good like when he’s in bed with a woman and she thinks he’s boring. Honestly, do you really want to know what’s going on in everyone’s head? Even the creeper staring you down on the bus? How about your boyfriend when he’s quiet and you ask the dreaded question, “what are you thinking about?” and he says “nothing.” And it’s really nothing? I think I’ll pass.

High Speed seems like it’d be pretty cool. Get from point A to point B really quickly. Possibly teleporting? That’d be sweet. I’d never be late again! Then again, I think life moves fast enough as it is. I’m already super busy all the time, scheduling time to TALK ON THE PHONE. Setting reminders to TAKE OUT THE TRASH. It’s gross how life flies right by. I rather enjoy my walks to and from work every day. Gives me 30 minutes of peace.

Flying would be pretty sweet. Another mode of transportation that may not actually affect the environment. However, I think it would be pretty weird to see people zooming by my 14th floor window at my office. Maybe it’s in the future…

X-Ray Vision is for pervs. Enough said.
Controlling time would be really cool. You could go back and forward and see into the past and the future. Perhaps even change things that have happened in the past? See what your life will be like in the future? Sounds neat, but at the same time, I kind of like being surprised. I wouldn’t change anything from my past – it has made me the person I am today. And, frankly, I wouldn’t want to see how my future is going to end up. I’d rather just wait and see.

After seeing Harry Potter, I think everyone has, at one point or another, wanted to add that Invisibility Cloak to their wardrobe. I think it would be awesome to have that power – just be able to slip in and out of visibility. But for the people that don’t have that power? They’d live a life of fear and paranoia. Who’s going to pop out next? That’d just be creepy.

Invincibility seems like the most ideal superpower out there. Everlasting life sounds pretty intriguing. You’d be able to withstand any pain or injury and be totally unscathed. But how great would it really be to outlive everyone you know? All of a sudden, you’re 100-years-old and you have no family, friends, acquaintances, nothing. You’re just – alive. Alone. Hmm…

It would definitely be empowering to have incredible strength. Having the ability to lift anything, push anything, would be pretty cool. Us girls wouldn’t need you boys to lift heavy things anymore. My only fear would be that I would underestimate my strength and kill, oh, I don’t know, my cat or something.

Elasticity just sounds pretty gross to me. I’ve seen really flexible people. People that are double jointed and can bend in all different directions. It’s just plain, old disturbing.

When I think about blowing things up with your mind, I can’t help but remember the scene in “Accepted” when the nerdy looking guy actually succeeds in blowing up a car with his mind. He’d been trying to explode a pineapple the entire movie. First, I don’t understand the mantra that goes along with blowing things up. Maybe I’m just not into loud booms, fire and death. I don’t know. But if I had that superpower, I would definitely blow things up on accident.

Bottom line after all this superpower talk: I, honestly, would rather just be a normal human being. Call it boring, call it safe, call it whatever you want. I like not having control of certain things in my life. Yes, it might be fun, and I am a total supporter of wild imaginations. Lucky for the world, imagination is really the only true beholder of these superpowers.