The following is my essay for a program I'm applying to. I thought it was interesting to think about. Critiques appreciated.
If I could have any superpower at all, which would I have? This was a question I used to think about when I was younger. I thought about super-strength, about invisibility, about flying and magic, each more tempting than the last. However, over time, I was able to settle my fantasies in one superpower: The power to stop and resume time.
Everyday I have a race against time. It is always a race for me to get to school, arrive home, finish my homework and try my best to get the rare six-hour sleep every day. If only I had an extra five hours in the day… I could accomplish so many things! I could get that A-plus on a project, I could learn to play a new instrument, or just have an extra hour of sleep. To pause time whenever I want to would give me the advantage of having more time than anybody else.
I am sure at one point or another everybody feels like they are on a one-way train to death without having power to stop it. Humans have felt the need to live forever and have more time for centuries. I am no exception. I was sure yesterday I was only ten years old—now I will become a high school senior next school year. If I could pause time, I would if only just to have a deep breath or two. Sometimes it can scare me how fast a year passes on by. It makes me want to stop time once and for all.
But resuming time is just as important as stopping it. There is no reason to stop time if I could not restart it. I want life to go on. It would be no fun to watch a still-image for the rest of eternity. Life is only lived when others are living it too. Everyone’s times are ticking, and that makes life have meaning while we live it.
If I did have such a superpower, would my heart continue to beat while everyone else’s has stopped? It is a slightly morbid question. Maybe time was made to flow on infinitely for that reason, so that no human could meddle with life. It is definitely exciting to think about having that superpower, especially when I am under a lot of stress. But I am glad that I do not have such ability. My internal clock is in sync with everyone else’s—and that is the only natural way of life.
