Since I can remember, I’ve been daydreaming about having special powers (other than being able to offend people with the simplest of words/looks, a terrible power I was born with). I’ve come up with a ton of potential abilities over the years, ones that would put me higher in society, allowing me to make my mark on the world. I’ve obviously thought of being able to fly or have super strength, and I’d definitely love to have those, but there’s one I feel would make my life ridiculously easier. I would cherish to have the power of reading minds.

I can’t begin to count the many times that I’ve walked down a street, had someone look at me, and asked myself, “what the heck are they looking at?” Now, more times than not I’m sure they’re gawking at the fact that a person could be as goofy looking as myself, but what else might be going through their heads? Are they admiring my hat, wanting to punch me in the face for no particular reason, or do they actually think I look somewhat gnarly? You see, when I notice someone staring me down, my head starts to go crazy, and the inner retard truly begins to panic, almost bringing me to the point where I want to grab the person and ask them what’s going through their mind. This would be a great time to use those mind reading powers, but there’s more to it than that for me.

I’m one of the most shy people on the planet, well, until you really get to know me at least, then I’m just plain crazy, but knowing what a person was thinking would definitely help ease that bashfulness. This works best with the female species, because, so often I want to approach a lady, but my nerves stop me. If I could read their minds then I would know what they thought of me, and could then decide whether or not to go in or to stand back. The amount of times I’ve talked with a girl and found her extremely attractive is massive, but pretty much every time I never reveal my feelings, potentially putting a stop to a relationship before it even started. In fact, I’ve had quite a few scenarios where I held back but later found out that the woman had been attracted to me, but by the time I was told this, they had started a relationship with someone else or had moved away. There’s a female right now that I’m quite attracted to on many levels, but because I don’t see or talk to her nearly enough (I don’t really know her well enough I suppose), I’m hesitant on revealing anything; not to mention that if she wasn’t interested it would be a major blow to my confidence. This is where mind reading skills would come in quite handy.

Other uses for mind reading would be when playing sports, games, and especially for writing (to name a few). If a baseball player were to know the location and type of an upcoming pitch, it would be astonishing to see their numbers. Also, a mixed martial artist who knows the move that their opponent is going to try and pull off (or their opponent’s strategy for that matter) would be one step ahead of the competition, potentially allowing them to be pretty unbeatable. Now, conceptualize this; you have a high stakes poker game going on, but you know everybody’s hands; you’d bring in quite a bundle of loot. Heck, you could enter the World Series of Poker and dominate, making millions of dollars. Sure, these examples would be cheating in a sense, but hey, if you have the power then you have the right to use it, as far as I’m concerned at least. As a writer, being able to scan minds would be priceless. The amount of interesting stories and thoughts would fill up my idea bank for decades, taking away the stressful times of trying to come up with new topics to write about; no more writer’s block sure would be a sweet addition.

In the end, being able to know the thoughts of others would be very entertaining and beneficial. Life would be so much easier in a multitude of ways, making for less stress and more joy. Unfortunately, these powers, at least at this time, are unattainable to me, and I’m quite bitter over it. However, I will continue to envision how great life would be in my dreams, and I’ll get some diversion out of it. I honestly love my life, it’s quite good, but I can’t stop thinking about how much improved it would be if I could only obtain one simple strength; if only.

If you have any questions or comments for G.K., email him at GK@LostYouthNation.com, and be sure to check back here next Friday for another random article from his unpredictable mind.