Wouldn’t It Be Great If…

Wouldn’t it be great if you were one of the lucky few who received an unlimited amount of Pym Particles? 

Imagine what you could do with a super set of Hot Wheels. A whole dealer’s lot of cars, stored in a case on a shelf.  

I know I would have loved using the particles this morning to get through traffic. I like the idea of the subatomic particles turning me 50 feet tall.  Imagine making yourself so huge that the normal 30-45-minute drive would turn into just a step, and my child hopping off my pinky to get to class.  Marvel Comics were imaginative. 

But then again, those of us who grew up in the latter half of the last century were surrounded by innovation with rapid improvements. We saw the birth of the computer age, including video games.  If you are old enough, maybe you had Pong, and then Atari came out with arcade games to play at home. Did anyone have an Atari Computer? Remember those thick cartridges? I remember my thumb hurting from playing Space Invaders. We went from Pong to Atari computers to Nintendo in a decade. 

As kids, our imaginations were encouraged, and our conversations were about new ideas. My friend and I fantasized about video phones so we could instantly share our latest Lip Smacker or Mrs. Grossman sticker acquisitions. But the idea of being anywhere in the world, talking on a phone, was huge. Often met with silence, as we tried to imagine not being tied to a cord or phone booth. 

Conversations walking home from school or sleepovers would often turn to “Wouldn’t it be great if we had…”.

My brother and his friends talked about how cool it would be to have the things from Star Trek. Video calls, tablets, and phones, aka communicators. Let’s be honest, how many people spoke into their flip phone with their best Capt. Kirk’s voice to say, “Beam me up, Scotty?”  

Looking around, I think we accomplished most of the Star Trek goals. Although I am still waiting for teleportation.  

We were living in the time of if you think it, we can figure out how to make it.   Garages had workbenches because our parents came from an era when you fixed the waffle iron instead of getting a new one.  The workbenches gave a place to imagine and tinker if you were allowed to touch the tools. Hence, the start-ups in garages. We had optimism about the future. As the song goes, “The future is so bright, I have to wear shades.” 

Imagine my shock when I recently came across several young people who said, “What is left to invent?” 

My mind short-circuited for a moment. Then it started racing. 

I couldn’t figure out when we stopped looking for what might come next. We grew up trying to make things better, always reaching for something just beyond our grasp. It wasn’t about what we had. It was about what we could build. 

A part of me wondered whether everything now just feels like an upgrade rather than something new.

We used to sit around and ask, “Wouldn’t it be great if we had…” So I said it out loud. “Finish this sentence.”

They looked at me for a moment, then lifted their phones.

For starters, the teleporter and Pym particles haven’t been invented.

They ignored me.

SMH