Who Would You Be?
March 20th, 2006
Some friends and I were talking the other day about notable people throughout history. We asked each other what person throughout history (including present day) would we most like to be. We also noticed a pattern.
Who would you most like to be? And in one sentence, why?
Note for clarity: The question is not “who is the most important person in history?” It’s who would *you* most like to be.
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Benjamin Franklin. Total genius, total ladies’ man.
Or Leonardo Da Vinci. What an amazing designer he was.
That’s kind of a mean trick to put somebody’s picture there with the question. Now you’ve got us all thinking of _____, or __________, or something.
(Editor’s Note: I was actually thinking about that when I uploaded the image but wasn’t sure it would make a difference. You’re right. It kind of does. I have deleted the image.)
John Lennon pre-Yoko.
Michael Nesmith, you know, from The Monkees. His mom invented White-Out, he’s super, he’s had his 15 minutes of fame (and then some), and now he hangs out with hyper-smart people.
Easy. One of Jesus Christ’s disciples (except Judas).
Buzz Aldrin. To see the moon…
Friedrich Nietzsche, sweetest philosopher ever.
Everyone forgets about Judas, son of James… the other Judas in the apostles. Poor guy. Bet he gets a lot of stick in Heaven! :)
Am I the only one happy just being me? Failing that, a straight Leonardo da Vinci.
John Colter. Ever since I visited Yellowstone National Park as a kid, I’ve thought about how amazing it must have been to be the first American to experience Yellowstone.
Jimi. Duh.
I was going to say one of the Beatles, but I think I’ve changed my mind after Rob’s answer. It would be nice to get first-hand accounts of those parables Jesus spoke, as one of his disciples.
Bruce Lee – purely so I could do that cracking shoulder-muscle-thing.
Plus, I hear he kicked ass…
Zinedine Zidane or Chuck Norris. Not sure.
The guy who found the grey alien at Roswell
Whoever is dating Jessica Alba right now..
Actually, Thomas Jefferson. The ladies’ man who knocked-up Lady Liberty with his pen and ink.
Casanova.
Or William Wallace. Kilted.
If i could keep my own brain and use it someone elses body, i’d have to say Bill Gates. I’d love to run Microsoft for a while, make Vista based on linux or something. Either way i’d make all of microsofts products open source and let the company die. :)
I also wouldnt mind being Stelios (They easyJet guy) or Richard Branson (Virgin).
Neil Armstrong
“One small step for man, one giant… WHAT THE %£$£$% HELL IS THAT!!! AAAARGHHHHH!!!!!!”
[Moon jumps around wildly, dissapears off camera then unplugs it]
Aaah, what a moment that would have been.
George Orwell, to have had *that* much impact on modern sociological thinking, and to hav led the life he did.
Leonardo Da Vinci. 360° genius. Artist, engineer, writer.
Cedric Bixler-Zavala of Mars Volta-fame to be able to write, move and sing like that. Or William Burroughs, for knowing how it feels to be a pulp-genius.
Bah, I’d prefer to be myself, if you were someone else you wouldn’t be you, and thus you would have different ideas about how good/bad it is to be yourself, and you would most like to be someone else.
Now if you’re going to turn around and try and be someone who has done something great, well who knows, you might be Da Vinci but make completely different life decisions, become a sketch artist in the street and never making more than a couple of dollars a day. If I was Da Vinci and made the right choices and become what we see him as, then I wouldn’t be likely to attribute it to my strange ability to enter other peoples bodies.
Nope, I would rather be myself, and do great things in this body, then I wouldn’t feel like I cheated anyone (or everyone).
P.S. Reed: I have nothing against it, but if you’re planning to be a ladies man, I would go with the Franklin, he actually liked ladies, heh.
ONLY John Lennon pre-Yoko ;)
I’d love to be Tom Kelley, General Manager, IDEO.
It would also be nice if he owned the Pebble Beach Golf Course and Tom Peters was his real brother.
Leonardo Da Vinci – In a time when free thinking and new ideas was considered wicked he was the greatest free thinker of all time.
I like Damien’s point.. I’ll be myself — but with Bill Gates’ money :)
Nobody! I really really love myself, and even that I admire a lot’s of people, I’m doing my own history. This is the beauty of life!
I love Rob’s comment about being one of Jesus’ disciples, but I also think that Da Vinci was revolutionary in his thinking. I particularly liked how he dabbled in a little of everything.
So I’d be Da Vinci.
No women, huh?
Whenever I catch myself thinking ‘Wow, it’d be great to be …”, it always ends up being me I want to be. While there are traits or actions public figures have that we admire, our own total-package is the only one we can be assured to know full on.
With a gun to my head, I’d say Michael Jordan.
Dude. Bill Shatner.
I don’t think I need to explain why. :)
Being Hugh Hefner wouldn’t suck.
Otherwise my money’s on the da Vinci bandwagon.
Friedrich Nietzsche – So that I might have a chance to find truth, not infect Hitler with my lies, and possible avoid suicide.
Hugh Hefner would be pretty high on my list…
http://www.eonline.com/On/Special/JuiciestHookups/Highlights/Images/gal.hefner.jpg
Only he is OLD…..
Perhaps Lucretia Coffin Mott — I like to think that if I had lived in the same era, I would have had the fortitude and spirit she did (though most likely not).
Ok, I won’t read the other answers before posting, to keep my answer unbiased.
I’d like to be Neil Gaiman. He’s a writer. He loves his work, cares deeply about his family, friends and causes. He teams with brilliant people from his and related fields to create masterpieces. He’s fun to read, to listen to and to be with. He encourages other people to do what they love.
That said, these are all things I strive to weave into my own life as well.
NIKOLA TESLA
A.C. electricity
Tesla coil
Fluorescent light
Neon light
the radio (that’s right… it wasn’t Marconni)
X-Rays (that’s right… it wasn’t Roentgen)
the vacuum tube amplifier (it wasn’t de Forest),
bladeless disk turbine
vertical take-off, vertical landing,
particle weapons
far too many inventions to mention. The secret inventor of the friggin’ madern world.
Pablo Neruda. He cast his gaze on the gamut of human experience. From politics, to love, to the mundane things of everyday living. He was a diplomat, activist, dissident, writer, and poet. An inspiring man.
Second choice: Carl Sagan, for the same reasons.
TJ!
That’s my nickname for my main man Thomas Jefferson.
For others that answer the same, hope you’re listening to The Thomas Jefferson Hour regularly.
Hmmm… good one. Of course, we’ve all played this game before. I’m going to think about it and answer after lunch so I give a real answer rather than the first thing that pops into my empty head.
Well, if I had to pick one person for the entirety of my/their life I’d have to pick Jim Morrison. Just because I’ve read a bunch about him and it’d be interesting to live such an f-ed up life from the inside. Then again, I could have picked somebody who didn’t die in vomit.
For me, it would probably be C.S. Lewis (a philisophical, theological, and literary genius), King David (“a man after God’s own heart”), Jim Elliott (the man who was martyred after saying, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”), or John Piper (a pastor, theologian, and author I greatly admire for his devotion and perspective).
Then again, I can’t imagine living without my sweet wife, so those memories would definitely have to be erased. If not, I guess I would say I’d be me, but with more insight, integrity, will power, and love.
Hugh Hefner!
Davinci, the guy was on fire.
(or Alexander the Great – the Greek in me is curious)
Ahem: Da Vinci, the guy was on fire.
Darwin, Freud or Marx.
Georgia O’Keefe
She lived her life to the fullest, and found beauty and sensuality in the harshest environments.
war photographer James Nacthwey
Adam, you know, from the Bible Adam. I’ve always wondered what that forbidden fruit tasted like.
Gaius Julius Cæsar.
Mettius Fufetius
He has the coolest name in history… duh.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
I’ve always wanted to be more artistic and musically talented in general.
Tiger Woods.
I’ve always wanted to be a professional athlete and to be so totally dominant and in the zone would be amazing to experience.
Patrick Roy.
Watching this goaltender when he is in the zone is amazing. He’s had bad games, but when he was on, it was like he had six eyes and eight arms. Again, the zone thing, where rational thought goes away and it is all instinct and it is all awesome.
Outside of sports I would say John Lennon (any period), Harry S Truman, or Albert Einstein.
Any girl … cause apparently I would then not be reading this and be somewhere else … do only guys dig your blog Mike?
Jacques Cousteau – one of the most pioneering and enterprising explorers to ever walk (or swim) the Earth. In addition to inventing SCUBA, he was also a naval officer, ecologist, filmmaker and researcher.
I’d also add that Benjamin Franklin is up there for me: America’s first entrepreneur.
Since alot of people have already said Da_Vinci, I will prolly have to go with Ghandi, Biko, or MLK. Just because without activists like them people of minority, like I, would have a very hard time. All 3 of these men are important to me just cause all the places I have lived in my life would have sucked without their influence.
As an American – and in the true essence of that – I’d have to say Frank Sinatra. Whatever he wanted, he got. A life of excess and a true man’s man. His life was like a weekend trip to Vegas but for 85 years… and he’s still loved today after it all. Brilliant!
Who would you most want to be or know are two completely different questions, for the record:
Know:
Abe Lincoln – Nuff said
Jimi Hendrix – Clearly
Steve Jobs -
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Be:
Da Vinci – To be privy to that level of genius would be an honor
Ben Franklin – Ditto
Alex Hamilton – Ditto, until I met up with that dude Aaron Burr
Hugh Hefner – sure, why not?
That list is in order of priority I thought I’d throw it up for good measure.
Bono – I’d be able to wear sunglasses any time I want, night or day, without questions, plus I’d be a rock star and a kick-ass philanthropist.
Just being myself I can aspire to become a kick-ass philanthropist, but I don’t think I can get away with wearing shades all the time.
Elvis…but without the burgers and posse of men constantly around and without the Colonel. Elvis in shape and still alive today. Another 1000 tracks would now exist. And Priscilla would still be at his side.
One thing I have noticed…why has everyone picked men?
So maybe I would prefer to be Audrey Hepburn.
I’m with the mob. Definitely Da Vinci or Ben Franklin.
Great question. Jane Goodall, Amelia Earhart or Audrey Hepburn.
But I don’t think I would want to elminate my life to become one them, I am having too much fun.
Maybe just when dreaming…….
- melissa
Mike Davidson
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Interesting question. I would say Nikola Testla. A man smart enough to envision what other people said couldn’t be done and who had the ability to do almost all of what he set out to accomplish. Also a guy smart enough to be a life-long bachelor because had he not the world would certainly be a lot different then it is today.
I would be someone who has a blog but posts real content not a question every 2 months.
that or who ever is banging Jennifer Garner right now.
Albert Schweitzer, a real renaissance man.
Though Jane Goodall is an interesting option as well.
Fred – why would you want to be Mike Davidson?
Mike is single, gets to play golf, watches too much sport (while eating hot pizzas), drives a Saab convertible, parties all the time and has a great job….you’re probably right!!
Thomas Jefferson – A brilliant man that played a major role in creating the United States – pretty impressive.
Mikedeh:
I think it’s mostly men who are responding and just assume based on self-experience that the question refers to the same gener. You bring up a valid point. As for being a woman, seriously… Oprah
or maybe Maya Angelou
Earhart is a great pick but other than her first flight, I don’t know enough to really warrant her as a pick.
Can I be myself with a lifelong guarantee of health and happiness?
I honestly don’t know. Most of these answers are people who are famous, rich, smart, etc. I want to be someone happy. I want to be the guy who lived a long life, had lots of luck, did lots of fun things, did lots of good things and was basically happy his whole life.
I’m not always happy and who knows what the future holds, but I can’t think of anyone else that I’d rather be…
Neil Gaiman comes to mind, I really admire him and he seems to be a happy dude and I’m sure I’d enjoy his life, but who knows for sure, right?
I guess I’ll stick with me and try and make myself into what I want.
Stephen W. Hawking
Disabilities do not matter.
Steve P. Jobs
With no doubt, he should have had some fun
Tiger Woods
He is the best golfer in the world right now, arguably the best ever. His wife is gorgeous. He is driven by more than the money – he loves to win and will work as hard as he needs to in order to win.
I think Woods would have been successful in anything he chose to do, he is willing to work at anything to be the best.
I have learned a lot from many people and source . . . much inspiration.
I most want to be myself . . . Who I was created to be . . .
For such a time as this . . . To have the courage to fill my role and place on this planet.
I agree with those who say they only want to be themselves.
How can I say who else I’d rather be, when I’m not yet done being me?
I wanna be a billionaire.
Billionaires are from a different planet.
I would most like to be the inventor of the Internet ;)
My german-shorthair pointer, BB (short for bumbershoot).
He’s pumped up just running around sniffing smells, peeing on trees, eating pretty much the same thing every day, and hanging out with us.
And when any kind of bird is around, the guy turns euphoric.
He’s always certain that something really exciting is around the next bush (come to think of it, who among us isn’t…!).
To live like that…every day… I wish that for you.
Richard Feynman – one of the smartest, funniest, and most generally kick-ass scientists in recorded history.
I want to be Ron Jeremy.
I will just be myself and make sure I become a historical figure, thus sidestepping on a real answer. Ha! Take that, Newsvi! ;-)
Sarven you want to be Al Gore?
Michael Jordan or LeBron James.
I would be Adolf Hitler :)