Alla-Kazam!
Wave your magic wand – whoosh – what would you transform, create, or make disappear in 2015? Don't be afraid to change the world, or merely alter the mundane. Just be prepared to defend your decision with reason, or irrational emotion!
Oh...this wand will self-destruct after a single use, so choose wisely!
Oh...this wand will self-destruct after a single use, so choose wisely!
My initial response to a question is typically a sarcastic one. It's my default setting. So reading this question, I wanted to say I would wave my magic wand to create solar-powered personal helicopters, laundry that could fold itself and put itself away, or TV dramas that don't start to suck after season 2 (cough, cough, Revenge and Nashville). Or I would transform all cars into bumper cars so crashes would become playtime, make raindrops into gelatin-free marshmallows, or automatically correct all misused "theirs" into "there's" and vice versa. Things I might make disappear include all Maroon 5 songs, reality shows that consist of some guy shouting for an hour, and open-toed boots (seriously, how is that a thing?).
I default to sarcasm and jokes so much, that sometimes I'm struck by people who are genuine. A guy I work with one day asked me, "What would you do if you won a million dollars?" I assumed that he wanted some ridiculous answer, so I gave him one. And I asked him the question in return. He said, "I'd pay off all my debt and buy a house for my parents." I immediately felt like a jerk. Because of course, given the actual real possibility, I think we would all do something like that, or I hope we would.
I actually admire the people who don't default to sarcasm. There's a fine line between being humorous and putting up a shield. I'm trying to be a little more genuine, and a little less silly, at least once in a while. So instead of answering this question as a joke, I'm going to answer it for real.
If I could create or transform just one thing, it would be... to give us all a better ability to act out of kindness.
I know that sounds like a very Miss America contestant answer. But, I think that's appropriate since I was named after a Miss America contestant (and that's no joke).
Kindness has been on my mind. I've been the recipient of more kindness this year than I could list. I had friends who took the day off work and a sister gave up an entire weekend to help me move to a new place. I have another sister who I currently live with who doesn't go ballistic when I don't do the dishes immediately (but I'm getting to them, I swear). I've had family and friends that stuck by me through some total suckage. And it truly made a world of difference. Imagine what the world would be like if we all acted out of kindness. War, famine, parking lots around the holidays - if we actually saw each other and treated each other with kindness, it would be pretty rad.
So, since I don't have a real magic wand, I can only try to focus on being kinder, to other people, and to myself.
And if that doesn't work, the solar powered helicopters are my Plan B.
