Superpowers

I hate icebreakers. But, when the girl in your passenger seat asks you: “What kind of superpower do you want?”, you play along.

I’m not a big superhero guy. Not to mention, I tend to existentialize even the most basic of questions. So at first thought, I said flight. I think because that leads to experience and freedom. To be one with the sky and go anywhere you want. Likely moreso, to see the world. To see things from a vantage point that no one else can. Maybe I relate to that so much because I feel as if I already view the world differently than most. You see, I sip my coffee and instead of pondering the taste, I ponder the experience, the company, the design of the mug, the aesthetic of the cafe - the feeling.

But I’ve been thinking more about this idea of superpowers. I’d like to change my answer.

Flight is the introvert in me answering. But If I were being honest, I’d say to be careless. The type of carefree that allows oneself to drink and drive, try edibles, leave home without their phone, shoplift, buy a one-way ticket across the globe, or walk up to a girl across the bar.

You might think I’m describing some type of deadbeat, but in fact, I think I’m very much describing myself - or at least who I long to be more akin to. Not because those acts are all good - god, far from it. But to actually not care. To live each day without the repercussions of tomorrow and completely on your own terms. What a superpower that must be.

The man that chose flight analyzes life's trivialities, locking himself into a state of melancholy.  But he believes that seeing the world from a new height lends itself to a new perspective. One that would finally calm his soul. A perspective that might finally unshackle him from the chains of self-reflection. But the man possessing carelessness is the true superhero. He comes and goes. His highs and lows are much the same as you and I, but he experiences them without so much as a beat of his eyelids. Maybe he drinks himself to oblivion. Or feels no remorse when his toes cross the line of the law. But how come I still find him so supernatural? Is it because he is actually the most human of us all? Maybe it’s because outwardly he appears to have no cares. But inwardly, he’s haunted just like me.

Maybe the best superpower is to have none at all. Or maybe, it’s the ability to talk with the girl in the passenger seat about what type of superpower you’d choose. Alas, throughout all its misery and ecstasy, life constantly reminds us that we are in fact just human and the only thing supernatural is the miracle that we all have the opportunity to be here.

Flying would be pretty dam cool though.