Mind Reading?

I saw this article yesterday and was intrigued by the title:  10 Things Really Smart People are Scared Of.  I'm not actually scared of everything in this article, so maybe I'm not really smart?  But #4 scares the excretion right out of me.  "We'll all become mind readers."  Have you ever had the experience where you feel like you're a hot mess, but to others you seem to have it all together?  The idea that someone else could get inside my head and see that, that truly frightens me.

I've always been a little bit of geek (probably not a surprise to anyone who's read any of my posts before), and I love the X-Men.  I've always thought the idea of telekinesis sounded really cool, although I'd probably be in pretty bad shape since I'd just sit there and use my mind to bring everything to me.  But I've never thought it would be cool to have all of Charles Xavier's or Jean Grey's powers, because they can also read minds, and I spend enough time with the dark thoughts in my own head.

Of course, maybe everyone's inner thoughts would be just as jumbled and disturbing and we'd all realize that everyone deals with this, so we'd all be a little more understanding of each other.  But there is a reason why tact is such an important social skill, no one wants to know that when I'm talking to them and I'm frustrated that I've got the scene from Stand By Me running through my head where Teddy is screaming, "I'm going to rip your head off and @$#% down your neck!"  I've learned to control my temper, but that doesn't mean it isn't still there.  I guess I'm reminded of the quote in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, "We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."  That's really why I hope we never learn how to read minds, so people can continue to judge me on my choices, and not on the sometimes gloomy thoughts that I experience.

We had a lovely snow last night; it was especially pretty at 1:00 this morning when I couldn't sleep.  The view from my office window was also very nice (it's a camera phone so you'll have to excuse the graininess).  Although I will admit that I'd really like to start taking pictures of flowers and color again soon.