Friday, July 15, 2016

Do Pokémon Exist?

Pokémon?  "Give me a break" you'll say. "They're not real, it's a make believe kids computer game."  

Ok, but if they are not real, why was the park near my house full of kids looking for them? Because it's a computer game?  Why can't they just stay at home alone in their parents' basements and look for Pokémon?  I'll tell you why, it's because the Pokémon are out in the real world at locations identified through GPS. 

Here's where you say "yeah, but they're not really there. I can go to the park right now that is supposedly full of Pokémon and find nothing". So, because you can't see them means they're not real?  What about the wind?  Is the wind real?  You can't see it, only the effects of it. As I ran through the park on this particularly humid, 90 degree Georgia evening, the light breeze provided welcome refreshment. I could see the trees swaying and their leaves moving. I could see the birds soaring above in the gusty flowing currents it created.  I think we can all agree that the wind is real.  

How about the common cold, is that real?  We can certainly see and feel the effects of it. But most of us can't see it, because it's a group of submicroscopic infective agents. You need a special lens to see it. Which brings us back to those kids, walking through the park with their phones in hand, finding Pokémon. Given the fist-bumping and high-fiving, I'd say they were seeing them. Did I see them?  Well, I saw the effects of them, that's for sure.  I didn't look through my phone lens, but I didn't need to. I was quite sure they were all around me.  

But unlike the common cold, these "unseen" organisms were having a good impact on their hosts.  There were more kids out in the park than I had ever seen on a day with no scheduled sporting events. Aren't we always telling them to get out of the basement, go for a walk, and breath in the air of the outside world?  I'd say these very real Pokémon have had a more positive impact on the world than a lot of people I know. You GO, Pokémon.

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