Question of the Week: If you could have any Superpower what would it be?
By Cole Goodwin
Welcome to Question of the Week, a weekly news column that poses timely questions about life, politics, culture, economics, health, and more to people out and about in our communities. Our hope at CCC News is that having this space dedicated to being curious about other people’s experiences can help us to deepen our understanding of people from all walks of life.
This week's question is: If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?
Justin Franklin, 21, The Dalles
“If I had to choose one power, it would probably be telekinesis, so controlling objects with your mind and stuff. I can see that power going far, you could do a lot of cool stuff like fly and move stuff with your mind.”
“Like throwing the ball for your dog with your mind and not having to move a muscle to do it?” I asked.
“Yeah, exactly.”
Hilario Moreno, 45, The Dalles
“Money. Money would be my superpower. I’m very poor. I am on my way to Community Meals. COVID has made it hard. I am looking for a job.”
And how would you make money?
“The only way to make money is to work for it. So maybe I could make it by doing sports, running.. or teaching cardio fit for $20 an hour. I exercise a lot. I used to be overweight, and now I am very fit. I have a six-pack.”
Want to hire Hilario? Text or call him at 509-870-8956
Robbie Denning, 32, White Salmon
“My superpower would be kind of like Cupid. I would have the superpower to beam love onto a person so that they love everything around them.”
Why?
“Because there is so much beauty in the world and I just want to share that with everyone.”
“But I think a more fun question for me than what my superpower would be is what would I do if I could change physics?... If I could change physics, I’d want to be able to control gravity, so I could fly around or float and never fall, and help make huge advancements for human space travel.”
Pictured: Cheryl Arnold and Katie Alley
Cheryl Arnold, 60 something, The Dalles
“Flying so that I could see the countryside from above without being in an airplane.”
Katie Alley, 34, The Dalles
“I don’t know. I’m going to go with something classic, I guess invisibility.”
Why invisibility?
“So I can hide from other people. And I can sit in the corner and read and not get bugged. Or teleportation, so that I can save on gas.”
Katie Kuehnl, 31, Hood River
“If I had any superpower, it would definitely be to have a clean house and dinner cooked at the snap of a finger. I’m a Mom of five kids, and that’s exactly what I want. I want the whole house clean. I want socks matched even.”
Mel Mendez, 64, The Dalles
“Superpowers…uh invisibility.”
Why?
“So I can go wherever I want, and nobody would notice.”
“And ehhh maybe you could get money from the banks every now and then if you wanted,” joked Mendez.
What would be the first thing you would do if you were invisible?
“Oh shoot, I don’t know. What would I do? Drive around town, freak people out.” Mendez laughs at the thought of himself driving his car around while invisible.
Matthew Worthen, 27, The Dalles
“Probably fly so I could avoid traffic.”
Bryan Laroque, 55, The Dalles
“I would want to be like the guy from the Excalibur comics. There was a guy; he was one of the first superheroes that Britain made. He had this suit that gave him superpowers and he pretty much had a little of everything; he was kind of like an all-in-one. He had a little bit of time travel, and Merlin handed over some of his wizard powers to him.”
Tim Keenen, 68
“I would be able to turn invisible.”
Why
“He’s an introverted wallflower,” said Tim’s companion.
“Yeah, I’d just be a fly on the wall.”
“Although my favorite Superhero was the guy from the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch, but that superpower is not very practical.”
Marty Hiser, The Dalles
“I’ve thought about this a lot. Some days i’m like, mind reading, and then some days I’m like no, I’ve got too much sh*t up here of my own I don’t want yours! I don’t want to hear other people’s thoughts…but lately my Superpower choice would be to fly.”
Why?
“I could get places fast! And I could hover and watch the world, or go wherever I want to.”
Dylan McManus, The Dalles
“It used to be the ability not to have to eat. Because I didn’t like having to take the time out of the day to do it. But now I feel like that’s a hyper capitalistic bullsh*t superpower. Because I wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted to do and not have to stop and eat. So now I think my superpower would be the power of persuasion.”
“Like Obi-wan Kenobi, these are not the droids you’re looking for?” asked Hiser.
“Yeah, like I would say ‘that is a racist statement’ or like ‘you don’t have to save themselves from themselves and invade that country’ that would be cool. It would be cool to have people actually listen instead of just talking.”
“And what would your superpower be Cole?” asked McManus.
Cole Goodwin, 30, White Salmon
“I have been thinking about this a lot today, and I feel like my Superpower would be... to just be at peace and to radiate peace and connection to those around me. So that I could go anywhere and all those around me would experience that sense of peace and connection too.
So like I could just radiate peace to my whole town or my whole city and they would be at peace. And maybe over time I could learn to grow that power so that it could be experienced by a whole country, or the whole world. And as for the why…Well when I and everyone around me is finally at peace, the way we will interact and connect will be so much better for all of us.”
“So if you had a police scanner, you could just go there and not even have to do anything, just your presence could diffuse the situation,” said McManus.
“Yeah for the people in conflict it would be like, ‘what am I even doing here?’” said Hiser. “And you’d have people turning to one another and being like ‘I’m good. Are you good? I’m good. Are you good?”
“Domestic disturbances would be over. They could call you to be a diplomat. You could go to Israel and end two thousand years of dispute just by walking in the room,” said McManus.
“Yeah! Basically. Imagine. Earth at peace could be a literal paradise, a nirvana. By tapping into our Superpowers of peacefulness and interconnectedness, we could create Heaven on Earth.”
