Thursday, September 29, 2005

[transmission start]

note: the original post no. 99 (yes i'm currently 1 short of 100) wasn't right. it left a bad taste in my mouth. so, just not to waste the centenary post, here's the revised post 99.

thoughts: what if...

"But life -- and history -- are comprised of an unending series of choices. Most are meaningless, ultimately neglilible in the scheme of things. occassionall though, one occurs of sufficient moment to change destiny"

"there are moments in life that can change everything -- choices that have the power to reshape the world and rewrite history. the effects are huge. the moments themselves, often are not."

- The Watcher, Marvel's What If... series

What if... what if indeed? Every single day, every single moment, there is a choice to be made. and indeed not all may be significant, but there will be those that change things. those are the choices that we often look back on. choices that make us go "What If?"

"What If" has always been (and will probably always be) the question on everyone's mind (except maybe for the times when we wonder about the meaning of life). what if nuclear energy had never been discovered? What if the terrorists had been found in time? what if the tsunami had never hit? what if...

Humanity has always been obsessed with the idea of choices. with the prospect of history travelling down a different path. that's what fanatasy and fiction are made of - the idea of an alternate reality / universe existing. That we live in not a universe but a multiverse - where worlds and their realities are parallel, save for the fact that each differ in one decision of a person, at any given point of importance in that person's life. and so things develop differently as the choices cause the lives and history in general (for that universe at least) to travel on a path that diverges slightly from the others.

the thing about choices is that choices need opportunities. and sometimes the opportunities don't present themselves. but even if they did, we wouldn't necessarily make the ones that could (and would) make the world better (if not perfect). but that's the beauty of it i guess. the fact that you never can quite tell, even on hindsight. the fact that all you can do is wonder... wonder about what might have been. or how we feel the way things should be. but even then, who are we to say that things will work out happily ever after? we just assume that. it may not necessarily be true.

We are faced with choices and opportunities. whether we make them (or fail to), they will have consequences. sometimes good, sometimes bad. of course sometimes we're lucky enough to be able to take things back, to try and re-do (or undo) what we've done. but they are consequences none the less. consequences we will have to live with. and often on hindsight we wonder: "What if i had done it another way instead?"

what if.... what if Chris had never been born?

till next time...

[transmission end]

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chr1s0ng put the word on the street at 8:29 AM
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