Aside from stopping Cher's inexplicable rise to power, there are many things that I'm sure everyone would undo, if given the opportunity. The fact that there are faults that many would want to undo has led many to question the ramifications of undoing them in the first place. If we were to kill Hitler before the Holocaust, would he be viewed as a Martyr with even worse events following due to his death than his life?
If I were to reverse any catastrophe or major event, I would change the events of "operation zapata" or the Bay of Pigs invasion. I think the benefits of removing Castr fourty years ago are still obvious in todays world, where Cuba has been sinking consistently behind the free world, and has not let go of a cold war mentality that they lost decades ago.
I think that the "reversal" of any event in history would be damaging though. The book seems to loop all events, so anything done couldn't be "reversed" in the realm of newtonian science. One would have to venture into a theory of parallel universes, but still one couldn't be certain of the impact of our actions.
When we say "hindsight is always 20/20" we can only be sure that it is in it's definitive sense, but we can't be so sure that something in the past was the right or wrong choice. Aside from being able to see the moral value of any situation, many wrongs have been used to springboard progress, so--to insinuate that we could make better progress by reversing a wrong--is not all together sound reasoning.
Rather than asking "what wrong would I have reversed" what we should ask instead is "how can I make these wrongs into an opportunity or springboard for the future.
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3 comments:
I agree with your assessment of the dilemmas involving changing the past. I think they're poignant and clear. Nice post.
I find it interesting that you focused on historical events rather than your own past and history. I had narrowed my mind so much about having regret that I didn't consider looking outside of my life. I regret, as a culture, the racism that still echoes despite what elementary school children are taught at their young age. What are some personal regrets that you feel, or do you feel that there is a point to regret?
I really like the question you ended with. I have to agree that there is really no point to "regret" only mistakes to learn from. I think we all have things that we would prefer to change, but in changing them, wouldn't that also change us?
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