Now, it's hardly the first movie about time traveling that I have ever seen. The list is long. And it's hardly the first time that I have thought about time travel. For as long as I can remember, I imagined hopping into a machine that would whisk me away to the past. I loved studying history in school, and I wanted to experience all those exotic, ancient places I read about. I wanted to meet the people whose writings provided a glimpse into their times, the people of legends and folklore. I wanted to see fine lords and ladies dancing in a Medieval castle. I wanted to see just how the Egyptian pyramids were built. I wanted to look at the night sky with the Mayans. I wanted to talk to the ancient Greek philosophers. I wanted to sit around a fire with native American Indians. I wanted to know all the secrets of the past.
I also thought about the endless possibilities time travel could present. We could go back in time and "fix" things. We could prevent tragedies, change disastrous outcomes. We could stop assassinations and wars. We could learn the truth about what we read in history books.
And then as I grew older, I began to think about things on a more personal scale. What if I could go back in time and fix things in my life? What if I could undo some of the mistakes I made? Hindsight is 20/20 they say. And like everyone else, I have many regrets. But what if I didn't have to live with regret? What if I could go back and make the right choices, do the right things, stay on the right path? What if I could erase my bad habits, my bad moments, my failures and shortcomings?
Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray's character keeps reliving the same day until he gets it right. I imagine continuing to go back to the past trying to change things until I get it perfect. But then I remember how many times he relived that day and how often he got it wrong. If I went back in time and changed things, would be I be satisfied with just a few changes? Or would I constantly be traveling back in time, continually changing things, trying to create a perfect life? Or what if I just changed my mind about things as humans are wont to do? Or what if I just wanted to try a million different things because I could? If that's the case, then I would never see the beauty of the present or the wonder of the future. Life would become a meaningless video game in which I could constantly press reset.
I also think about the movie Butterfly Effect. Ashton Kutcher's character keeps going back in time, trying to make things right, but his efforts have unintended and sometimes tragic consequences. And his actions don't just affect his own life. What if I went back in time and stayed focused on school and attended that university and obtained that degree and got that job? Or what if I pursued my dream of being an actress? Would I still have met my husband and created the beautiful human being that is my son? I can't imagine not knowing the love of my husband. I can't imagine this world without my son. Sure the possibilities would be endless, but there would be a trade-off. I would lose people, things, and experiences to gain others. And we all play a role in each other's lives, whether it is small or large, whether we realize it or not. What if you make a change and think things are fixed, but then someone else goes back and makes a different change which then changes your changes? Confusing? Just imagine the consequences of everyone simultaneously traveling back in time to change events?
Think about all the drama and hilarity that ensued when Marty McFly time traveled in the Back to the Future movies. He almost kept his parents from getting together. And in Part II, Future Biff gives Past Biff a sports almanac which he uses to get rich. Suffice to say this works out for his present and future, but not for anyone else's. Knowing humans and their capacity for greed and corruption, I could see a lot of people using time travel as a way to profit unfairly, or to cause trouble, or to hurt others. Instead of preventing wars, people may start wars.
Switch gears for a second...
In the X-Men movie, Hank McCoy, aka Beast, states the following:
"There's a theory in Quantum Physics that time is immutable. It's like a river, you can throw a pebble into it, create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction."
What if that is truly the case? That even if we could travel back in time and change things, the universe would ultimately "correct" itself and the final results would always be the same . Or what if we travelled back in time but no matter what we did, we could not change events? What if everything happens for a reason and our lives are completely in the hands of God or Fate? I guess in some ways this is true. We can't go back in time and change things.
But we can learn from the past and change our present and future.
Our past shapes us, is part of who we are and who we will become. And just because it wasn't always good, just because we made mistakes, it doesn't mean we are doomed or that we failed somehow. We always have the power to change things in the present. And we can plan for the future.
Knowing that we only get one chance forces us to do everything we can to get it right. Knowing that we only get this one life makes it more precious, more meaningful. We can't press reset whenever we want to.
And I guess that's probably best. What do you think?
