I was thinking the other day, and like some of us, I wish I could go back to my youth, say Jr High (1973 for me), with all I know now, and start over.
That got me to thinking. Knowing all I know now, what would I lean towards for study and carrier, what would I invest in, and would I tell somebody about the success of Star Wars, personal computers, smart phones/tablets or even 9/11? Or would I just keep quite and let things happen, and capitalize on them. Would I want to inform someone (assuming they would believe me) about the future, good and bad?
At the ripe young age of 71, I will say there’s times I wish I could do just that .For self enrichment , no.To improve what I already know and turn back the happening of horrific events ,yes .Those events are not news worthy like 9-11 but personally they meant a lot to me . I feel that I didn’t accomplish enough of being a good neighbor or citizen .
That being said there’s a lot I would like to see again .Autos that are recogniseable by brand .Air flights I can afford and just that general trustworthiness we all had . As well as a recogniseable education system that taught about the really important things in AMERICA without dumbing them down .
It would not do to inform anyone of what the future holds . Why ? who would strive and sweat to make those things happen then ?
I’ve thought about it a few times, but, then I think that if I changed anything at all I would not have all the good things that have happened because one change would have changed everything. What’s a few bumps in the road compared to all the smooth roads.
I’ve often thought, how much change is needed to change history. If you married one woman over another and had different children, would that change history enough to alter the course of the world, at least in the time frame we are talking about?
But if one were to convince, someone in the government to stop 9/11, would that be a bad thing? I mean all the history that you knew over the past 14 years would be different. Better? I mean you would still know somewhat what advancements would emerge.
I’m currently reading a biography about John Adams. It’s interesting to read about the levels of uncertainty they faced back then regarding the breaking away from England. I’ve often pondered what it would be like to suddenly be back in those times to let them know what’s happened in America over the past 238 years. I’ll bet they’d be utterly amazed at how much the country and the world has been through in that amount of time. Wars, medical breakthroughs, Man landing on the moon, sending spacecraft out beyond the solar system, computers, cell phones, hand-held tablet devices, the internet…the list is almost endless!
When most of the folks on this forum were kids, including myself, the computer was some gigantus machine with relays and vacuum tubes, and our grandparents grew up using horses as motive power. Airplanes? Waaaat? We have come a long way fast.
I enjoy watching the TV show Sleep Hollow. Tom Mison, who plays Ichabod Crane, does a great job as some one from John Adams time adapting to modern times. I think that’s the best part of the show.