What if life had an “undo” button?
I wrote in my last blog about time travel (http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=896). I mentioned that I wouldn’t be interested in going back into my own timeline, except to verify some things that I did or complete things that I didn’t have a chance to finish. The time travel scenario, involved me going back into the past as an observer, not in place of myself.
There was a movie that came out in 2013 called, “aboutTime.” In that movie, the main character has a genetic disposition that once he reaches the age of 21 he can travel back in time in his own timeline. Unlike my time travel scenario, he replaces himself and can change actions that have occurred. Once the change is made he can return to himself in the present timeline, where changes have taken place based on what he did in the past.
Think of your computer. Most programs that you use have an “Undo” command 
which allows you to go back one step and erase any mistake that you’ve
made. You then get a fresh start and can create the correct version of what you were producing or leave the error deleted without replacing it. So what if we had similar capabilities? Call it our “Life Undo (LU)” command. With my LU command, there is no going back to the present. You erase the error but must continue on from that point forward.
How many times have you said something to someone and regretted saying it as soon as the words were out of your mouth?
The first time I was invited for supper at my newly married sister’s house, I managed to break some of their crystal glasses, which they have never let me forget. The LU would have been perfect then.
I missed a college friend’s wedding when the car’s transmission broke down on the way there. I did manage to make it to the reception, but the LU would have come in handy.
Think of getting the chance to tell a person you care for, “Goodbye” before they die. Having a Life Undo button would be very helpful, at least for me. I wasn’t there for either of my parents’ deaths.
I’m sure there are those that would use the “undo” option to do negative things. Imagine being able to tell someone off that you work with or don’t like and then pressing the LU. It does have some appeal, but it is not how I would want to use it.
Mistakes are part of the learning process. Some mistakes that I’ve made I wouldn’t want to undo. It’s those mistakes as well as my good qualities that let people see who I really am. So choosing the time to use LU is not a trivial decision.
When would you like to use an LU?
And What if you could use an LU on someone else’s errors?
I haven’t gotten around to watching About Time – not sure if it’s still available on Netflix. Anyways, it reminds me of a Canadian TV show, Being Erica. It’s all about a woman who is counseled by a time traveling psych/shrink who helps her relieve her past, so she can appreciate her present and maybe make better decisions for the future. It’s pretty awesome…and sad. There are small regrets and then the big, undo-able regrets – and the regrets that aren’t even ours, but we shoulder anyways because they belong our loved ones.
My cousin recently died, and I regretted not visiting him more. We became distant, and I can’t undo the fact he’s gone (though I honestly wished it a gazillion times in the last week), but it’s helped me reconnect with family and I like to think that there’s hope there (and that’s not something I’d undo).
I’d never want to change anything in my past or any past. Besides, according to my rules of time travel, no matter how hard one tries, one can never change history. I get annoyed with time travel movies where they change time like in Looper. I did like About Time though.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out