Thanks to the cartoon industry and American Sci-Fi movies, several generations were brought up with the concept of wanting what is extraordinary and unbelievable over regular human abilities. Stories about super natural heroes are not only limited to cartoon figures or American movies, there are many Egyptian folkloric stories about people who had super natural powers, along the years there were various stories about super natural people who were famous for lifting heavy trucks, eating glass, healing patients or calling upon spirits from the dead, some stories are believed to be true while others are a figment of someone’s imagination, yet we carry these stories as part of our culture legacy, they are told sometimes for entertainment, and other times for gossip. The Egyptian culture is famous for believing everything, we are easily overwhelmed, we spread stories in a matter of nanoseconds, we are a culture which believes not only in prophets but also in people with karamat and we are a culture which believes in “the evil eye” (Hasad), “voodoo” (Aamal) and the ability of evil people to do extraordinary things out of jealousy. So, this makes distinguishing between true super natural stories and fake ones a little bit hard, but it is always thrilling to hear about it anyway.
Admiring people who have supernatural power either stems out of the need to acquire an unfamiliar trait by naming their children animal names and this happens mostly in Arab countries (Asad, Fahd, Sakr….etc.) or to impress someone (siblings, girlfriends….etc.)
But the endless need of humans to do inhuman actions is not an absolutely childish fantasy, these unimaginable wishes turned at several points throughout history into realistic scientific discoveries; the eternal dream of man to fly carried out through a number of courageous and sometimes stupid trials eventually led to the invention of all sorts of flying machines. The dream to reach the moon has led to actually roaming about the galaxy. The dream of having another human copy from a single cell led to the discovery of cloning, the dream to see or hear our beloved from a distance or know every little detail about our enemies led to the multi- information technologies. These discoveries are not necessarily moral, benign and sweet, sometimes wickedness, dishonesty and evil prevails, just like in movies or in harsh modern cartoons about planet destruction or controlling the universe or producing an ultra strong breed; some science devils use their imagination to combine wrong cells, spy on innocent people or try nuclear weapons, so its all about being in command of everything and amaze people with the unique power, it is dangerous but impressive for sure.
Whether these wishes and dreams develop for the best interest and help in the development or destruction, if we look close at the basic dream of a regular person, we will find that he has similar wishes to acquire a super natural power to be different from all the people around him. Being different is impressive too; it makes one stand out, be recognized and popular, and is not this what we thrive for at one stage of our lives?
When I asked the people around about which super natural character they liked; almost every boy/man said Superman, some said Batman, Spiderman, Ben 10, the brain (from Sky High), older people said The Incredible Hulk and A Man from Atlantis, girls said Power Puff Girls and Atomic Betty. The funniest thing is that someone said Hayfaa Wahbi (do not know which super natural power he means, but it’s a typical male suggestion!).
When I asked people around me about which super power they wish they had; 70% said they wanted to fly (men and children), 20% said to be invisible (women who wanted to check on their spouses), 5% wanted to move objects just by looking at them, 2% wanted telepathy, and 3% varied between wanting the ability to heal, control time, be super fast and seeing the future.
So, no matter how old we get or how different we are, we have those cravings of being powerful, outstanding, impressive and to achieve the impossible.
When I asked myself which supernatural power I would like to have, well, personally I don’t want to fly, neither do I want to be invisible, I think I would like to be able to multiply if necessary, you know, one in the kitchen, one at work, one with the kids and one to take care of me!
