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SOME COMMON UNCOMMON ABILITIES PART II
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
I sometimes wish I had to ability to multiply into several me’s. You know, the type that makes one able to
undergo fission, but with all faculties fully intact. That ability would enable me to serve the needs of my career
and my family all at the same time. Fortunately, I have been able to learn the art of multitasking, i.e. the ability
to do two tasks at the same time. But that more technically means double-tasking, doesn’t it? Well, at least
that still gets me to have twice covered at a single time. And the fact remains that you still have to keep alert
while doing two things. Otherwise, I’d just end up with an overly soaked load of laundry and burned rice.
There’s definitely no fun in that!
Superheroes have amazing abilities. This has been covered in a previous essay. Fortunately, many of them still
carry whatever it is that makes them ultimately human: the ability to fall in love; the ability to feel compassion;
the ability to know that with great power comes great responsibility. But wait! Those are inherent anyway, so
no superhero is granted their power unless they possess those abilities. Yep, even the gods have everything
covered.
The ability to teleport would be nice since it would unshackle humans from the mercy of cancer-causing gas
fumes. My very first concept of teleportation was from the movie “The Fly”. But that gave me a rather icky idea
of the whole thing. Imagine if the protagonist had been teleported with a snail or a mosquito. That would lead
to an outbreak of schistosomiasis (a parasitic disease) or dengue or malaria in gigantic proportions.
Clairvoyance is the psychic ability to see clearly what cannot be seen. Telepathy is another, but it is different in
that it involves transfer of information from one mind to another. However, after I had watched the horror
movie “The Rite”, and learned that “knowing the unknowable is a sign of demonic possession”, I have never
aspired to having psychic abilities of whatever sort. That was only recently, though. But get this: how many
times have you hummed a song to yourself only to hear the exact same song being played seconds or minutes
later? Is it just coincidence, or do many of us have psychic abilities without knowing we have them?
No matter what abilities we may have, we should never for a minute think that we are free to exploit them in
an evil manner or for not-so-noble purposes. Whatever abilities we have are a gift that we need only to
optimize and develop to help the greater good.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1.
What are your thoughts on people like Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce? Have their gifts been helpful
to mankind?
2.
Why do most people want to exploit unusual abilities?
3.
How should special abilities be managed/used?
4.
Can you name other people who have unusual abilities? Be as specific as needed.
5.
If you had the ability to see into the future, how would you use it to help mankind?