Power

What would you do if you discovered you had a power, something that was seemingly limitless which no one else had? I got to thinking this after seeing a movie today, The Invention of Lying, in which one man alone discovers how to tell lies, and because he is the first everyone believed him, no matter how outlandish his tales. The movie has a typical hollywood ending in which his powers turn out to be of little use in winning him happiness of any sort, but what if this were real? What if I found such a power?
First of all, this is the real world. Every action has consequences, the greater the action the greater the consequences, unforseeable and unstoppable. In the movie the protagonist tries to make the world better, to use his powers to help people, but in the end little has changed. This is perhaps an optimistic view, the result would more likely be total disaster, or at least chaos as the world experienced events not meant to take place. If this is the case then whatever the intention of someone with such power, the results are completely out of his hands.
So, what is one to do if power falls into his lap? Taking a more pragmatic view you might as well cut loose, go out and do the best to make yourself happy, or at least content, while trying not to intentionally ruining those around you. Certainly, history is full of villains who have trailed disasters behind them while seeking personal gain, but has just as many who ruined the world trying to change it. Fortunately, a man actually needs very little not to be miserable, which is a fine goal for anyone, and it is no small thing just to know you've something no one else in the world has, even if it's never used.
On the other hand I'm reminded of a short fable. Two girls are walking down a beach and they come to a stretch of sand covered with thousands of starfish. They've been stranded at low tide, are baking in the sun, and dying. One of the girls picks up a starfish and throws it back into the sea. The other girl asks her "Why did you do that? There's no way you can get all these starfish back to the water before they dry out?" The girl replied "Maybe not, but that one doesn't care?"
Sure, it's a silly story with plenty of questions. Wouldn't high tide have saved them? Aren't there just as many dangers in the water? Did the starfish notice what was going on? Mull on these all you want, but the point is that a single good deed, a single effort to help another person, has the very best chance of actually helping that person. Of course, even with superpowers you can't save the world, even if the girl could throw all the starfish back into the sea many would still be eaten by hungry fish, land on sharp rocks, or suffer some other horrible death of the tideline, but they still have been given the best possible chance not to die from dehydration.