Be Careful What You Wish For

I suppose all of us at one time or another have wished to have a super power of some sort. When you are younger it would be encouraged by watching films like Superman, in my younger years, or X Men for my children. It’s often the obvious fantasy of flying or becoming invisible, although with my fear of the former the latter was more likely! (To be honest I was never a fan of superhero films and that’s never changed. I have never seen a single film from the Marvel universe and I really don’t feel like I am missing out.) The reason for having a super power are very often selfish, immoral or criminal as those who have the societal equivalent these days of being richer than Midas prove day after day. Every mega rich person that I can think of has gone over to the dark side and become a scourge of mankind not a saviour.

So, what would be my super power and, more importantly, how and why would I use it? My super power would be an ability to help those who really need it. I would instinctively know what they required and how to make sure it happened. So, who would be the people who really needed my help? Aye, there’s the rub as Hamlet said. I would be completely responsible for deciding who to help and who not to. What would I use to help me decide? Social media perhaps, or following them in their daily lives to see if they were the right person for me to help. Both are worryingly easy these days with the Internet and CCTV but it would be down to me to use whatever evidence I found. Then, it would come down to personal prejudice. Would I help someone who disagreed with me on fundamental issues? Almost certainly not. What about if the help they needed would make a massive contribution to their local community by concentrating on those who society ignore? In that case, could I ignore their views? Well, who is to say that mine are better? What would happen if in helping others they also made themselves much richer? Would that change their basic nature over time with the human instinct to be selfish? All these questions would be taken into account and to be honest I don’t want to be the one to make those decisions. If it’s all the same to you I will leave the super powers to other people who are more self assured. However, more self assured people tend to be more dangerous in whatever field they work in so perhaps people like me would be better for the world. Who am I to make those decisions though? That brings us back to the start! On balance I am really glad that super powers are firmly in the realm of fantasy.