The Stem Cell

THE STEM CELL

Once a stem cell was asked to make a choice.
It was handed the standard questionnaire and told to weigh all of the options thoroughly. The stem cell read each question with care before answering because it knew how important its responses might turn out to be. Although the questionnaire was long, the stem cell worked through it diligently and with a strong degree of confidence in its decisions. Until, that is, it came to the question about what it wanted to become in life.
It wasn’t the question itself that caused some hesitation about answering. Rather, it was the three choices given:
a) Head of a realty empire
b) Head of a Reality TV show
c) Head of a vast and diverse nation
Having given the matter of what it would like to become a great deal of reflection in the past, the stem cell had assumed the possibilities would be countless and imagined the only difficulty would come in selecting which among myriad futures held the most promise for making a difference.
In fact, the stem cell had been so enthusiastic about the variety of opportunities presumably before it that the thought of being limited in its choice had been its principal concern. Discoverer of a cure for a deadly disease, bringer of peace to all nations, feeder of the world’s starving, tireless campaigner for equality, champion of the poor and those who suffer in hardship, protector of the future of the planet itself—who could pick one over any of the others?
What it now understood to be a far more limited choice would take further pondering, the stem cell realized. The differences between being head of a realty empire, head of a Reality TV show, and head of a vast and diverse nation ought to be obvious, but then again, perhaps there were more subtle factors the stem cell wasn’t aware of.
It clearly needed more time to determine whether any real differences did exist or whether the head of a realty empire, head of a Reality TV show, and head of a vast and diverse nation might end up being impossible to tell apart. Worse, suppose the stem cell selected one and then failed to make anything meaningful of the opportunity. Or worse still, fouled everything up.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to give these concerns the attention they deserved. Here was this questionnaire waiting to be completed, with only this final, vexing choice to be made.
The stem cell agonized and agonized, still deeply troubled by the narrowness of its three options and sighing, “Whatever happened to ‘None of the above’?”