Topic suggested by The Daily Post
If you could meet yourself as you were ten years ago, what would you say to your younger self?
This is a good question. I don’t know, is the short answer. I guess it would depend on exactly when I went back to talk to myself. I started dating my wife on September 25th, 2001, so, if I went back before then, I would tell myself something like “Hang tough. Just a few months more until your life changes radically.”
This question also brings up an interesting moral dilemma, as well. Would I warn myself of the events of September 11th? If I did, and my younger self warned the government, would they listen? Could I prevent those flights from even taking off in the first place?
Do I bear any responsibility to alter history in the first place? Or would such actions cause a paradox and lead to even more, as yet unseen, problems?
It’s a tough call.
On the one hand, I could save thousands of lives, possibly prevent the re-election of George Bush, prevent the Patriot Act, and preserve the America That Was.
On the other hand, it might have led to something even worse happening to America. We just don’t know.
But, as it regards myself, I would tell myself to skip college. Or, at the least, if I am as dead set to go as I was, to bear down and get it done and not to worry so much what others think about me.
I’d also tell myself to hold my tongue at that crucial moment when things changed. I can’t go into too much detail, but, perhaps it would’ve prevented such a rift forming in my immediate family.
So, that’s what I would tell my younger self.
The House of Goonery 
10 years back?
It might have been great to avoid the hassle of my son gluing his eye shut with superglue. It turned out allright, he’s fine…but I’m never living that down despite the fact that he had to climb up a chair, desk, and shelf while I was in the restroom to get to the superglue that was in a pencil cup. Forgive me, I consider 6 feet off the floor pretty safe from toddlers for most purposes.
Changing history on the world scale? No. Altering events such as 9/11 would destroy as many or more as it would save. How many people came together or became who they are because of those events? A relative few lives were ended, but the entire world shook to it’s core over that—who knows what could have happened without the increased vigilance that came as a result of the wakeup slap of 9/11? Maybe nothing. Perhaps more harm has resulted than if it had not happened—but many people are who they are because of it.
As for the other events… I guess we’ll have to wait another 10 or so years to see how the differing policies would have changed things. So far I see more of the same under a different name. The specifics change, but politics is politics no matter the stripe of the politician. It’s all a game being played by a bunch of people who will never have to worry about the price of a box of cereal in the grocery store, who care nothing about those who do, and have little to no accountability for the decisions they make. I don’t know if it would even be worth trying to change it if we could.
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*nods* I agree. America is “lead” by a group of over-privileged people who think they know what’s best for us.
The question, I guess, was meant to spark a conversation only on a personal level (it was a suggested topic). Though how one can ask such a question, especially on the ten year anniversary of 9/11 and not expect a response that, at the least, mentions the event, I don’t know.
Storydad Said: “Changing history on the world scale? No. Altering events such as 9/11 would destroy as many or more as it would save.”
Which is why I asked the question in the first place of whether or not I hold any personal responsibility in such a situation to alter the past. Setting aside the question of whether or not I could, I don’t know that it would be ethical to do so, for much the same reasons as you cite.
Who am I, after all, to decide who lives and who dies? I bear no such responsibility in my current role. Why then should I bear it in this hypothetical situation?
I think I’ll just stick to telling myself to focus on my college courses, instead.
Thanks for the response.
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I would tell myself to get my head out my ass.
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HAHAHA! Simple and to the point. Love it. Thanks, Skatha!
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