What is Your Superpower?

I once asked several middle and high school students what kind of superpower they would want to have. The answers were a little surprising to me at first, but upon reflection, I understand more clearly. Being unsure of their surroundings, scared of imminent dangers and petrified of being embarrassed, these students valued invisibility over flight, great strength or laser beam eyes. We live in a society of fear and ambiguity, and they want to disappear into a virtual reality.

In a recent conversation with my sister, we discussed our superpowers. Hers is creative intelligence. Becky can put together incongruent pieces of information and explain it to somebody like me. She can make the blind see and the deaf hear.

Mine is the ability to quickly adapt to any situation. I have learned to be happy in every environment, foreign or domestic. Everywhere I go, I find a way to fit in. In large part, this is a defense mechanism that I acquired in middle school, as a way to survive. None of the normal categories fit me. I was not, and am not, a jock, musician, artist or whiz kid. Without any identity, I faced a school career of isolation, which is kryptonite to me. The weakness of yesterday is now the strength of today. I am Adaptaman.

Every superpower comes with limitations and responsibilities, however. We must use our powers for Good, not gain and for others, not ourselves. One of the shortcomings with being so adaptable is that I often get confused about who I really am. What color is a chameleon? The answer could be the color of his surroundings, but sometimes the outside world doesn't match the inward realities. The danger in adapting is in not being able to return to your original self, if you can even identify who that self was in the first place. Being all things to all people sometimes means being nothing to yourself.

Spain provides an excellent laboratory to work on my powers and to pass them on. Elizabeth seems to have some of the same abilities. She fought our move at first, refusing to give up her American identity, fearing it would be lost forever. Now she has learned that it doesn't go away. The new Spanish identity is added to it, like another tool in the toolbox. She has learned the language better than any of us. The other day, I asked her to write for ten minutes about the importance of learning Spanish. She wrote two pages of beautiful Spanish, as if it was her native language. I was amazed. She has also learned how to navigate complicated relationships, especially with girls. Regardless of culture or language, high school girls can be catty. Elizabeth has learned to be a bridge between people, instead of a wedge. She can bend without breaking. She is Flexigirl.

Katherine has not discovered her power yet, but it is not adaptability. That much we know. She is struggling mightily with the myriad changes in her life. A new language, new culture, new school, new people and a new body is hard for any person to handle. My heart hurts for her. We have cast her into the deepest ocean and have asked her to swim toward a shore that she cannot see. Her resolve has run out, and she wants to stop swimming, but she has a stubborn will and iron resolve. Spain is applying the heat she needs to melt away some of the slag in her life, so that the will and resolve can be mixed to create a powerful and pure steel alloy, capable of withstanding incredible forces and strains. One day she will save the world, if we can just help her endure the unbearable heat of the crucible. This is an incredibly painful process, but she will endure and triumph over her challenges. Katherine is Steel Magnolia.

Susan's power is more subtle. She is quiet and reserved, which leads some to believe she is weak. That is a huge miscalculation. Susan has powers that defy imagination. She is like water. At rest, water seems innocuous. In motion, however, it can cut canyon walls through solid rock like the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. She is an unstoppable force. We ride along her river and enjoy the views. Without Susan we would simply sit in our little canoe, wishing for some water. She is Madame Aqua.

We have not yet perfected how to use our forces together as a team. That time will come, though, when we unite. We are world changers, on a mission from God, aka Master of the Universe. Join forces with us. I can only speak a word of caution to any who oppose us. You will lose.