If You Had a Time Machine

 

Going back in time is a SiFi staple. The stories take a hundred turns, mostly because we really do not have any idea how it would really work. Would we just be observers? Could we change our destiny? If we changed enough that we never existed, would we just be back at square one again, or not exist at all? It’s probably even more complicated than that. I think the 10^th Doctor, David Tennant, summed it up quite nicely when he said, "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff". (Blink 2007)

So assuming the safest scenario, viewing but not changing, where would you go? I’m going to stick with going backward because going forward would be, well, “Spoilers”!

Here are some of my possible destinations.

1. Birth/Death of Jesus Christ

2. Machu Picchu

3. The building of the Pyramids

4. Ancient Rome

5 JFK Assassination

6. Ancient Babylon

7. 9/11 Twin Towers

8. Roswell 1947

9. Forming of the Grand Canyon

10. Ancient Atlantis

 

Interestingly enough, one poll on Reddit had the 2000s as the most chosen destination. I’m assuming it would have something to do with undoing past stupidities. I’ll admit it might seem like going back to stop ourselves from doing certain things might be inviting, but what would be the real result? If we are, among other things, a collection of our experiences, actions, & memories, wouldn’t it change who we are? Would our lives take a drastic detour? Who would be affected? It’s fun to play the “what if?” game, but I’m not sure I would want to live it out. I think I’ll join the Apostle Paul when he said, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14