I don't suppose I'm as fearless as I used to be, because I'm not too psyched at the idea of zipping into the unknown future. Lord knows, time is already zooming in that direction way too fast, so why rush it? I'll get there when I get there. And I don't want some buttinsky fortune teller telling me what to expect, either. That'd be like peeking at a book's last page before reading its first. Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather enjoy life's mystery as it unfolds.
On the other hand, going back... for a brief, a VERY brief visit... might not be so bad. Just think: you could relive some of the greatest moments in history. Find your special niche. Where would you want to go? Maybe you could meet your own grandparents and parents when they were children. Meet some of your heroes. Observe some of the brightest minds and greatest humanitarians of all time in action. That would be pretty darned exciting, don't you think?
So, come on. Climb in. Where's it gonna be? Where would you like to go? Um, would you mind driving? I have a tendency to get lost.
Just kidding. Sorry.
Alas, I can't actually transport you through time, but this video comes pretty darned close. Better yet? This is a come-as-you-are trip. Whatever you have on right now is just dandy, and you don't have to worry about the silly flux capacitor going belly up and stranding you somewhere, either. So, ready? Grab your favorite beverage, and get good and comfy, because this virtual time machine is ready to take off, baby. Destination: the good old days. How well I remember them ... do you?
Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.
It's funny. I've always been able to imagine myself doing things like traveling to the moon or Mars but the idea of time travel generally freaks me out. I would like to go to the moon but not to the past or to the future. Lack of imagination? Maybe. Anyway, have fun back there in those good old days. I remember them fondly. :)
ReplyDeleteWe live in the anatomy of the future, so any meddling outside the entropic arrow of time would tend to attract its own variables and could not be general. Past though is a delicate matter in which any intrusion could set off huge disturbances. I would therefore limit my involvement to telling my 20-year-old self to buy gold at $35 per ounce, lots of it.
ReplyDeletePersonally, any trip to the past for me would have to include a stop at the ancient Library of Alexandria in its prime. The histories, plays, and scientific documents lost during the occasional fire and its final destruction at the hands of Christian fanatics is one of the great tragedies of human history.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to visit the Minoan Civilization during its prime in the early Bronze Age.
As for the future I would have to carefully skip down it in ten year intervals finally stopping two-hundred years into the future. So much is changing so damn fast something in me doubts our early 21st century minds could handle much more.
Everything is going so fast now and my brain can't keep up so spinning into he future would not work for me. It would be interesting to go back and see where I came from, but just maybe I would find out something better left unknown. So I think I will just stay in the here and now and enjoy whatever comes my way.
ReplyDeleteI rocked around the clock when my kids were babies -- in a rocking chair, that is. It would be interesting to go back in time to see special people. I'd love to meet quite a few authors, but I figure I'll see them in Heaven.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Well how boring am I?! The only thing I decided I wanted to revisit (time travel allowing of course) was a time when my children were very young and just starting out on their life's journeys.
ReplyDeleteI want to visit the past! I want to see with my own eyes famous historical people like Anne Boleyn (what did she have that made Henry VIII willing to wait 6 years to get his hands on it?) and George Washington and William Shakespeare. I'd also like to see some ancient cities like Teotihuacan and Macchu Pichu in their prime, when they were alive and bustling.
ReplyDeleteRubye- No, I wouldn't say being adverse to the idea of time travel indicates a lack of imagination. Not at all. And since I like the idea of traveling into space, you don't lack a sense of adventure, either. So, maybe you're simply happy with the here and now. I'd say that's a pretty darned good thing, since that's all we can really rely on. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteGeo- HA! Good one, but your twenty-year-old self probably wouldn't have listened.
Beach Bum- Wow, what a great comment. I like the way you think.
Arleen- Yeah, I know what you mean. Some things may be better unknown.
Janie- Meet some authors, huh? I can just about imagine you running with the bulls alongside Hemingway.
Rosalind- Oh, not boring at all. Wouldn't it be wonderful to feel their sweet little arms around your neck again? I suppose that's why God invented grandchildren.
Dianne- Oh, I just knew you'd want to visit some neat places and people in the past. (Then you could come back and write a kick-butt book about them.)
I like Beach Bum's answers!
ReplyDeleteI'd quite fancy a few trips in the Doctor's tardis. But knowing my luck, I'd end up in some time where it really sucked to be a woman (time travel to the past would be much safer as a white male)... get hanged for being a witch or forced to darn socks, summit like that.
Maybe not just yet, but I would very much like to jump ahead to the year 3000 and see what has become of the state of humanity. But probably not stay there long.
I'd definitely visit the past. I ache for it.
ReplyDeleteCarrieBoo- You've got a good point about traveling into the past being safer for a white male than for anybody else. As for sock-darning, I've done quite a bit of that, and even have a darning egg. (A smooth rounded wooden thingie for shoving into a sock while you're darning it.) But I LOVE the way my mother used to darn. I think you'll appreciate it, too. She'd inspect the raggy sock, say "Darn!" and then throw it into the trashcan.
ReplyDeleteSuze- Wow, that's a powerful statement, kiddo.
No Hemingway for me. I'd be at the Algonquin Round Table, or in France with the Fitzgeralds.
ReplyDeleteSigh...I sure do remember them.
ReplyDeleteHhahahahahaha! Priceless, Susan. That's my kind of darning for sure.
ReplyDeleteA darning egg?! :O That's serious! :)
Janie- Oh, I should have known!
ReplyDeleteDelores- I know ya do, and that video's full of some of the best music and sights of those days.
CarrieBoo- I thought you'd get a kick out of it.
That clip is nostalgia itself!
ReplyDeleteLoved the video, though it's a bit before my time. But I have a number of those songs on my iPod.
ReplyDeleteI recently read a series of books (fiction) that took place about 30,000 years ago. I'd like to time travel to that epoch - the ice age, Neanderthals vs. Cro-Magnons, the dawn of civilization. Of course I would want guarantees that I'd be coming back to the present.
I always thought stepping back to see how my Great Grandparents actually lived, doing genealogy makes you feel like you really knew some of these people, and in my mind understanding the differences between their time and ours would be a real eyeopener.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with time travel is that if you go backwards, you'd have to go beyond the time when your machine was built, and you'd find yourself on the floor. And if you go forwards, nothing has yet existed so there'd be nothing to see.
ReplyDeleteLady Magnon was a Mouseketeer back in Washington in the 19..'s
Time travel is one of those things you think about and think about and think about, and just when you think it might possibly make sense, you realize you still haven't wrapped your head around it!
ReplyDelete(Well, for me anyway!)
Ahh those good old days, I remember them fondly. I'd love to travel back in time for a few visits!
ReplyDeleteAl- It sure is. It's one of the best videos about that time that I've seen.
ReplyDeletePixel Peeper- Before your time, huh? Go ahead ... rub it in, why dontcha? (HA!) If you go back to caveman times, better shave your head first to confuse those Neanderthal types who'd want to drag you into their caves.
Jimmy- It would totally be neat to see life as our great grandparents saw it. For a VERY limited amount of time.
Cro- Oh, very cool about your lady being a Mousketeer. I may have watched her on TV!
Rachel- I know what you mean. Kinda like trying to wrap your mind around the pictures Hubble have taken that show us things that happened ... in the past!
Martha- You and me both. But I wouldn't want to stay there.
wow. You've given me a lot to think about! I don't remember all those times but there enough I do: like Dragnet, service at the gas station, and drive-ins to name a few. I've also realized exactly what I would do should I ever become obscenely wealthy: collect cars. Forget diamonds and designer clothes, I want a barn full of classic cars. Imagine being able to just go out and get into your very own mint condition '67 Shelby Cobra any time you want. Who'd care what you were wearing?
ReplyDeleteThanks for this :)
oh! And the time travel thing, assuming I could get back safely, I'd love to have a glimpse of the future, say 250 years from now.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of that great Jimmy Buffett line... you pick the century and I'll pick the spot.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to go back just far enough to see the natural world before it was spoiled. Maybe the beginning of the 20th Century.
Marcy- That's my kinda gal. Cars are much cooler than jewels and designer clothes. All I can say about 250 years in the future is I hope the earth and humanity are still going strong then.
ReplyDeleteMr. C- The beginning of the 20th century would be nice, but if really you want to see pristine, you might want to go back farther, and precede the industrial revolution.
I've long known exactly when and where I'd go. NYC, the summer of 1977. In addition to the Led Zep and ELP concerts I'd go to every concert there was and take loads of photos. Is that too much to ask? I just want to relive what I already did a bit better!
ReplyDeleteLaura- Wow, talk about specific! I imagine a lot of the people who were at Woodstock in '69 would like to revisit those concerts, too.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the video, it brought back memories. I love the music a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnthony- I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's my kinda music in there, too.
ReplyDelete