Con­fu­si­on

What if the water that came out of the show­er was trea­ted with a che­mi­cal that respon­ded to a com­bi­na­ti­on of things, like your heart­beat, and your body tem­pe­ra­tu­re, and your brain waves, so that your skin chan­ged color accor­ding to your mood? If you were extre­me­ly exci­ted your skin would turn green, and if you were angry you’d turn red, obvious­ly, and if you felt like shii­ta­ke you’d turn brown, and if you were blue you’d turn blue.
Ever­yo­ne could know what ever­yo­ne else felt, and we could be more careful with each other, becau­se you’d never want to tell a per­son who­se skin was pur­ple that you’re angry at her for being late, just like you would want to pat a pink per­son on the back and tell him, „Con­gra­tu­la­ti­ons!“
Ano­ther reason it would be a good inven­ti­on is that the­re are so many times when you know you’re fee­ling a lot of some­thing, but you don’t know what the some­thing is. Am I frus­tra­ted? Am I actual­ly just pani­cky? And that con­fu­si­on chan­ges your mood, it beco­mes your mood, and you beco­me a con­fu­sed, gray per­son. But with the spe­cial water, you could look at your oran­ge hand and think, I’m hap­py! That who­le time I was actual­ly hap­py! What a relief!
(Jona­than Safran Foer – Extre­me­ly Loud & Incre­di­bly Close)