Good Essay On Returning To The Past Or Living In The Present?

Thomas Heywood in an Elizabethan play “A Woman Killed with Kindness” regrets the things he has done and refers to God asking if there is any chance for him to return to the past and change what he has done. His words are full of hopelessness, as he understands that it is impossible, but the damage is so strong that he cannot help but wonder if there is a tiniest possibility that he could go back in time and redeem the mistakes. With all the technological advances, a lot of ideas and science fiction inventions were turned into life, but the one that is so popular in the books and the movies that does not seem to be invented soon is the time machine. Of course, every person at some moment in life starts wondering what he or she would change if they had a chance to travel back in time. It is normal to think how one would be able to improve the life of the close people or act differently in certain situations in the past, or maybe someone dreams of traveling back in time to change the history, as the ideas to save Kennedy or kill Hitler and Stalin are popular in modern science fiction culture. All these desires are quite understandable, as the world is far from perfect and just, and there are events we would really like to reverse or prevent. Nevertheless, going back in time is not the way to solve anything, as it may turn the world in chaos, deprive people of learning on one’s mistakes and reduce the values of time and life.
First of all, if all the people would be able to travel back in time, the world would get even more chaotic, unjust and senseless than it is now. There are different people in the world, and if the power gets into the hands of a wrong person, the damage is irreversible. Corporations, who would try to make profits out of it, all the villains with more possibilities to harm the society and other people, who would use it not to correct the mistakes, but to blow up the system. What is more, everything could get even worse if every person had a change to travel in time, as the whole structure of the society would fall apart. When we think about changing something in the past, we mostly start speculating on some minor things, as losing money or saying something wrong to our parents or friends. Sometimes, these things are more serious, as for example, hurting someone really hard or losing a valuable person. Still, these things happen every day with every living person, so if all people started solving their small or big problems or undoing the things they have done by traveling back in time, the world would lose the present time as such. Everyone would be going back and forth trying to fix something that probably would not even matter in a couple of years. I also have some things I regret, as hurting my parent’s feelings multiple times or not saying my grandparents that I really loved them. But most of the things I regret doing today will vanish in a couple of years. Still, I am sure that if I had a chance I would definitely start improving my life with the help of time travels and I doubt that I would be able to stop, and so would the majority of people. The chaotic world would be flooded with desperate creatures, who try to do the impossible and change the order of things. I do not think it is the way the world is supposed to be.
Time travels would also deprive us of the chance to learn from our mistakes. Having an opportunity to rewrite everything from scratch will not benefit us at all. People learn from their worst and most painful mistakes. We are often advised to learn from the mistakes of the others, but to say the truth we rarely do that. The mere fact that we are dreaming about returning back in time shows that we are not able to learn from the others’ mistakes and examples: at least, science fiction books and movies have told everyone multiple times that the great power comes with great responsibility. It should not be used extensively, because it has a capability to change the human nature. I know from my own example that the best way to learn something is to fail a test on it. If I make a mistake during the test, I may be sure that the right answer will definitely get stuck in my head for a long time afterwards. It is in human nature to be afraid to lose and to make mistakes, as it is inconvenient and far from pleasant. However, the life is a series of huge mistakes spiced by some other minor mistakes that help us grow, develop and change our attitudes. Time travel would take these things from the humanity. If one is always able to rewind the tape, this kind of learning will disappear. People will get lazy and selfish, returning back every time they do not like something without considering the possible implications for the world around them. The chaotic world full of selfish people making no mistakes sounds like a paradox, but that seems like the thing that would happen. The only mistake people would be able to learn from would be the very mistake of traveling back in time to make changes and corrections in their lives. There is a huge chance the humanity will never be satisfied with what the life offers. And this drive to avoid mistakes would turn into common tendency to change everything we do not like to meet our constantly growing expectations about life. I believe the humanity really needs to preserve this way of learning, no matter how painful and unpleasant it may seem, as there is no better way to develop and grow as an individual.
The chaotic world created by the possibility to return back in time will not only take the away learning on our mistakes, but also will decrease the value of time and life in general. The thing every person finds hard to deal with during their lifespan is the fact that our lives are limited to a short period of time and we cannot reverse it. People come in this world and go, and there will be time in everyone’s live to say good bye to friends, family or even enemies. The mortality is what makes us human, as we know that the time a person spends in this world is very limited, so a person tries hard to do something good for this short period of time. What would happen if this time was not limited? I think people would become more egocentric and incapable of understanding the mortality as such. If one loses a beloved person, he or she will have a possibility to return back to spend time with them, or try to prevent the cause of their death. I think it will breed indifference, as the humanity would not be constrained by time, so people would probably not live the way they do now. Why bother to try hard today if one can always go back and start again, if there is unlimited amount of second chances. I think the value of time we are given is the things that wakes us up in the morning and makes us do things. If I knew that I would be able to retell the story of today, I would probably spend a lazy day free of responsibilities rather than trying to make the best out of the small amount of time I am given. And I believe that is the greatest thing in the world that really triggers the prosperity, stimulates constant movement and progress and inspires curious minds to explore and invent. Returning back in time would deprive us of this pursuit of better life, would take away the interest in the mystery of tomorrow and would completely eliminate the inspiration and enthusiasm. I do not think that time traveling is what the society needs; nevertheless, sometimes everyone wishes that we would be able to do that.
All in all, I believe that the possibility to return back in time would drastically influence the life of humanity. We all dream about undoing things that we have done wrong, but these wrongdoings and mistakes are an essential part of the existence that helps us to accumulate experience and grow as individuals. The flow of time is what stimulates and inspires people, as everyone understands the essence of limited time and mortality, so people are trying hard to change the society for better. With the possibility of time traveling the world would probably fall into total chaos that would destroy the order in the society and negatively influence our lifestyle.