Past,Present, Future Perfect

The physical sciences are discussing the nature of time: does it exist? Does it flow in one direction? At the practical level, I have not recently found myself at particularly embarrassing moments in 1967 (Baltimore, Maryland) – no need to discuss the delicate nature of the event. And I am pleased to tell you that time is working fine without inconvenient little rambling episodes to prior times.

For those of us still bedazzled by the prospects of the future, this is encouraging. I’ve read so much Sci-Fi that the prospect of messing with my past scares the hell out of me.

I’d love to go back and change any number of things, beat the hell out of bullies, and stop myself from saying dumb stuff. But then I’d be a pickpocket of my own future because my present would change…or would it bifurcate? And would the new me then try to go back and fix things again? Would they run into me? Would there be an entire convention of me clamoring that their fixes should take precedence? 

I don’t think it would go well knowing that I like the ultimate, not penultimate, word on things. No. It’s better like it is. Being unable to alter the past, live with it as it is, and mine it for inspiration and learn from it.

Taking too deep a dive into the past is dangerous. We forget history is not an unalterable landscape. We can look back and view it time and time again from different perspectives. Using this ability for insight is one thing, but using it as a dwelling is foolish.

I ask you to consider this quote from the historian Shelby Foote: “People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made.”

Be careful. Being able to reinterpret the past is as dangerous as going back and actually changing it.