Welcome to my completely random and quite impulsive endeavor! Anything is worth a try once, right?!?!?!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Which One Would You Choose?

I just finished watching the series Heroes on Netflix.  There were 5 seasons.  I really liked the series, although, like most television series, the last season/s wasn't the greatest.  As I was watching the series, I contemplated the lure of having a "super power". 

There were a couple characters that could have more than one power at a time.  Most could have just one.  Sylar could have many powers, but he killed other people with powers to get them.  So, obviously he was the villain.  Peter could have many powers simply by touching others with powers.  Nathan could fly.  Angela had dreams that came true.  Matt could read peoples minds and then control their thoughts.  Claire could heal / regenerate instantly.  Hiro could teleport through space and time.  Samuel could move earth.  Jessica could freeze whatever she touched and then later travel as water.  Other minor characters could breathe under water, be invisible, heal others by touching them, throw electricity from their body, throw fire from their body, control others movements, erase others memories, travel through walls, have super strength, see the movement of sound, and on and on and on.

As I watched the series, I wondered which one would be the best to have.  Of course, the humanitarian came out in me and I knew I had to pick one that would not hurt others.  As the series progressed, I also understood that there were ramifications to having a super power, so I had to add that into my inner debate of which one I wanted - - as if I really had a choice anyway. 

I knew right away, that I did not want to have the power to control peoples movements, or throw electricity or fire. I did not not want to read peoples minds or control their thoughts - - well, most of the time.  I see no point in freezing what I touch, travelling as water, breathing under water or moving earth.  I guess when I really thought about it, I also didn't want any ability that could change the past, the present, or the future because I know if I had one of those powers I WOULD use them for personal gain and it would come back to bite me in the butt - - probably 100 fold.

Flying might be interesting, but then my need to fly somewhere doesn't happen very often and I don't know how I would transport much, because I would have to be touching / carrying anything that I wanted to fly with me.  Obviously, I couldn't take my family because I cant carry all of them at once and I am not sure that the flying is super fast, so going back and forth to get them all would take a lot of time.  At most, flying could be a money saver, but not many advantages beyond that.

Invisibility or reading peoples minds might be cool, but what if I saw something or heard something that really hurt me.  These are powers that might be great sometimes, but would get me in the end.  Sometimes it is not good to see what others are doing or saying when you are not there.  We all frustrate and piss off people once in awhile - - I don't wanna confirm it by hearing it or seeing it.

Healing others by touching them might be cool too, but then again, I would use it for personal gain, and no one I loved would ever be sick or die.  That would really mess up the natural progression of things.  Healing myself would be nice.  I know that would definitely be a personal gain issue because I would no longer be diabetic.  In the series, Claire can heal herself, but she can't die either.  Death is one of my biggest fears, so that would be a nice advantage for me, however, eventually all those around me would die and there'd I'd sit.  I think I will defer to accept the healing power.

The one power that seemed to intrigue me the most was Hiro's power - - the ability to travel through space and time.  Hiro did travel forward and backward in time, trying to change things.  I don't want that part of it.  As I said before, I know I would try to use that to my advantage and I would mess things up as bad as Hiro did.  I liked the teleporting through current time the best.  Hiro did not have to be touching everyone / thing that he wanted to teleport. He could transport many people / things by simply having them all touching one another and Hiro just had to be touching one of them. That ability is appealing to me because then I could see friends who live further away from me more often, I would not have to waste time travelling to get to places I want to see, and the travel happened instantaneously so I could get in 20 minutes more sleep every morning  rather than spending the time driving to work.  My concern is that possibly I could not have just the power to teleport.  What if the ability came as a 2 for 1 deal and I had to have the time travel ability too? That cannot be an option!  I want to teleport only.  As the series went on, Hiro became ill  and it was attributed to the amount of travel that he was doing.  The more often he used his power, the more he became ill, developing a brain tumor from it.  Just my luck!

ll, except for Sylar and Peter - - but they did not choose to have the ability to be able to have other peoples powers.  Any way, most of the characters did not get to choose if they had an ability or not and they did not get to choose what ability they got.  I suppose that is the way it will be with me too - if I develop one, I will learn to live with it and be responsible with it.  If I do not develop one, then so be it. 

As an end thought, Heroes really was / is a creative television show.  If you haven't seen it, I suggest checking it out.  Then you can decide, which power / ability would you choose?