If I could have one superpower

it would be the power to create

I would raise cities to love the people without homes

create stars to keep the darkness company

make flowers, and make sure each and every one of them knows that he is beautiful

no matter the color of his petals or the shape of his leaves

 

If I could be good at one thing

I would be a dancer

A dancer moves like words move

like summer tastes

like love feels

 

If I could save a life,

I would save my grandma’s

take the sickness from her liver, crumple it up and throw it far away

 

If I could change the world,

I would ask everyone to be a little more and a little less

more compassionate

more aware

less angry, less jaded, less selfish and less afraid

 

But I cannot create and I cannot dance and I could not save my grandma and I cannot change the world—

 

But

 I’ll tell you a secret

 

I already have a superpower: superhearing

I can hear whispered conversations from halfway across the room

and ballroom music from the neighbors’ house

I can’t hear the flowers but I still tell them they are beautiful

 

I may not be able to dance but I can play basketball

I can hold a plank for five minutes. I can ice skate and write and I’m learning to draw with my left hand

and I’m learning to dance

I’m taking tango lessons and practicing ochos and boleos and the music

is the most amazing thing I have ever heard

the music sounds like sunlight laughing

 

Four years ago I saved my own life

When I decided to fight the digestive condition I developed in China

I ignored those who said I couldn’t and those who said I would never be able to change my situation

those who told me I could never “compete” with others because my condition would hold me back

I crumpled up their doubt and their judgment and kept it in a drawer

And later, after a long fight for my health – after I joined a sports team and had a 4.0 GPA and rocked

journalism and was elected to a city commission – I emptied out the drawer and danced

 

I may not have changed the world yet but

I’ve changed perceptions and attitudes with my words and my story

and just wait – in 5 or 10 or 30 years I will be more, do more

 

But what I am right now isn’t too shabby either

I am a writer who would like to be a dancer, too

A fighter who is learning to be vulnerable

A sometimes-optimist, a literature lover, a staunch supporter of all things almond butter

I stay up late dreaming and the next morning I stay under the covers because it is too cold

I know the value of laughter and the power of words,

I have flaws and strengths just like every other person out there

I have doubts and insecurities but they can’t stop me from

searching for sky on a cloudy day and lighting the world on fire