I've always been fascinated by the concept of being able to go back in time to moments of my life (of course knowing what I know now) and be able to change the outcome of certain events. There is the movie "Peggy Sue Got Married". Peggy went back in time determined to do things different and eventually made the same decisions. Her destiny was to marry the same jerk.
I could be greedy. I could pick a point in time where I knew an investment would pay off and then enjoy the financial windfall. I'd buy as many shares of Microsoft in the 1960's as I could.
It would be interesting to change family history. If I could warn the family about my Grandpa Chalk's impending heart attack (or hemorage of some sort) and he had lived, the dynamics of the City Club and my family would have been dramatically different. Or would they?
I could try to intercept my Dad's decision to "get out" of this world. It would have preserved the family unity. Or would it. It might have been gotten uglier. His marriage was struggling. His business world was crumbling. His dreams were fading. So if he had lived, the inevitable might have just been delayed.
Getting married at age 19 (almost 20) might be a good point in time to revisit. The lives of 5 Grasshoppers hang in the balance of returning to that event. Naw, I wouldn't change that.
I have several work situations that I would like to revisit because they altered my career in different ways. The "net" of my work career was pretty good so I'm not sure I'd change too much.
In thinking about it, I really don't want to go back in time with the ability to change anything. The assumption is that I could improve the future. I really don't know. I might have made things worse.
So I am resolved that things happen and it is man's destiny to react in a positive way to ongoing change. My conclusion Grasshoppers, is that looking back is a useless exercise. Enjoy each moment. Make the most of each moment. The best is yet to come. You are where you are supposed to be in time.
Would you like to go back in time?
Love,
Dad
Then there is the movie "The Butterfly Effect" where each attempt to get a better outcome still made things bad but in a different way. No, I wouldn't change a thing.