If You Could Go Back In Time & Change the Future...
By anniepa
@anniepa (27955)
United States
July 17, 2008 5:57am CST
...which would actually be changing the PRESENT and the future as we know it now, where would you go, what point in history, either national, international or personal and what would you try to change? I came up with this idea last night while flipping through the channels and I saw that "Back to the Future" was on HBO. I've seen this movie several times but for some reason just thinking about it made my mind wander to "Gee, I wish I'd have had that time machine to go back to __"...you can fill in the blank any way you'd like!
If you've seen any of the "Back to the Future" movies or if you've ever given any thought to the concept of time travel you know that by changing just one small detail in the past you would also in effect be changing many, MANY things from that time on to the present and the future, possibly even taking away your own very existence! Heavy stuff, right?
Let's have some fun with this and also maybe get into some deeper subject matter. What moment in time, whether it be something in your own or your family's history or something of a more far-reaching effect, would you like to return to, what would you like to change, how do you think you could do so and what impact would that change have on the present? Everything is on the table here! I'm sure some would like to go back to 2000 to somehow prevent Bush from taking the White House, some may like to go back to Dallas in 1963 or L.A. in 1968 and some may just want to go back to the day their daughter met their future son-in-law...lol! See, it can be very heavy and serious or very light a fun, but be careful, sometimes something from what you think is just your personal or family past could be felt throughout the nation or the world! I'm thinking of some of my own ideas which I'll add as we go.
Annie
3 responses
@dloveli (4366)
• United States
19 Jul 08
Knowing what I know today I wouldnt know where to start. Of course if I were to change the future even in the tiniest amount it may change the future greatly. I think If I had the chance to change something it would be the World Trade Center Bombings. I dont think I even need to say why. I think that if I changed that incident, I would have saved hundreds of lives and the only history that may be affected would be Osama's frustration at missing once again. Although, who knows maybe if I stop that the next attempt would have been worse. I think that I would be willing to take that chance. I would however change the outcome, not the entire incident. I would want them to try and fail. This way we would be able to watch and protect future attempts. Thats what I would change. I think its time to protect our borders and everyone in it first. Then help other countries. Just my opinion.
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
19 Jul 08
Terrific response! I think we'd all like to change what happened that day but you're right, we shouldn't want to change the attempt, just the outcome. Maybe go back to when that memo said about Bin Laden plans to crash airplanes into building or maybe when James Woods was on one of the same flights a week earlier and apparently the hijackers were taking a "practice run" and he told several people he thought something was amiss but they all ignored him.
I couldn't agree more about taking care of our own before helping other countries. It sure is about time!
Annie
@skinnychick (6905)
• United States
17 Jul 08
I wouldn't change anything about my personal life. I think everything I went through happened for whatever reason it did and I learned from it. I would like to change the outcome of JFK's presidency. Better yet try to save him to see what would have happened had he served his full term(s). As far as other people that I would have liked to try to save were Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Natalie Wood, James Dean and most of the classic stars whose lives ended much too early. They had more time to be glamourous and didn't get the chance. I would have liked to see them live into old age to see how their lives panned out. Great discussion!
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
18 Jul 08
Great response! I feel the same way about changing my personal life. If I wouldn't have gotten married so young and had gone to college, who knows, I'd probably have more money, a better job, more material crap and all that but when I think of my husband, my daughter and grandkids, so many of the wonderful friends I met through the years that I would never have known had my life taken a different turn back when I was 17 I know I wouldn't change a thing. I'd also have loved to see all those celebrities you mentioned above plus a few more live a lot longer. It was so tragic to all of them and their loved ones for them to be taken so soon but for the rest of us that served to make them "forever young".
I can't tell you how many times I've wondered what the country and the world may be like today if JFK hadn't been assassinated and his brother a few years later. I wasin high school when Bobby Kennedy was killed and I can tell you from memory the young people adored him and I certainly could be wrong but I've always believed with all my heart that he would have been elected had he lived. That would have probably meant no "Watergate", so right there there wouldn't have been all the scandals since then named "_gate". The scandals may have happened but the name wouldn't be the same...lol! So much might have been so different! Would it have been for better or for worse? That, we'll never know!
Annie
@melo_828 (427)
• Philippines
17 Jul 08
if i could go back in time to change history, i would go back in times of ferdinand marcos in the philippines. i would like to know the real issues about his dictatorship. is he really the one who ordered the assassination of many people? i think he is the best president in his first term in office but suddenly the situation became worst in his next term in office. i'm interested to know all about this. i don't believe in some of the news about it. i know there is something uncovered in that part of the history of the philippines...
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
18 Jul 08
Thanks for a great response and for really getting the whole idea of this discussion. I must admit to not knowing a whole lot about the Philippines and their history but no doubt, if things had been different there it would have resulted in a domino effect for other parts of the world since it really is a small world and we really are all "connected" in one way or another. We could also go through and look at the relationships between various world leaders and think what would have been different, for the better or worse, if one or both of the leaders had been different.
Annie
