With the recent release of Pokémon Go! people have been convinced to leave their houses and natural comfort zones in order to catch their favorite childhood pocket monsters and do one of the few things they have always wanted – become a Pokémon trainer.

Any kid who ever watched Pokémon, played the video game, played the card game, or even just knew what it was about wanted one thing: to be the very best.

They always wanted to be the best trainer, with the best Pokémon who had the respect of all of their friends.

From knowing all of the words to the theme song

To beating the Pokémon Yellow, Red, and Blue Gameboy games

To knowing all 150 of the original Pokémon

To knowing all of the statistics for each Pokémon

To knowing which Pokémon is the ultimate Pokémon (for yourself—because let’s be real, we all have our preferences)

And even to knowing how to talk to others about Pokémon to get them hooked as well.

My parents never supported my brother’s and my love for Pokémon, but now since this newer, more mobile version has come out and it has begun helping people with depression, anxiety, autism, etc. they have taken to it quite willingly—my dad even downloaded it and he does not play games like this!

I’m beginning to believe that Pokémon is just what the world needed to bring it closer together rather than being another thing that would just tear it apart. It has influenced people to leave their houses, connect with people they never would have before, gain a sense of their community, and even get some exercise in while they’re out exploring the brand new world that has been opened to them.

This game may be spreading like a disease, but I can definitely tell you that it is doing more for humanity than one can say for merely “wishing for world peace” or “hoping” that things will get better. We are starting to get a tiny bit better and Pokémon is a major milestone in this process.