A Once-In-A-Lifetime Chance

[bobquasit]

Say you were given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to send a message back through time to yourself at an earlier age. It can be up to five words. Your past self will know that the words came from future you. Paradox does not apply; if your past self acts on those words in any way, it will not negate your sending of them. But your life as it is now may change.

Question #1: How old would you be when you receive the message? That is, what age "you" would you send the message to?

Question #2: What would the message be?

I'm still thinking about my answers. I'll post them once I come up with them.

Comments

[tonysalieri.livejournal.com]

Sent to 1995, when I'm 20. : Invest DotComs, Pull Out 2000

Actually, I would probably find out what the best single company to invest in between 1995 and 2000 is, and then mention that instead.

A shallow answer perhaps, but an honest one.

[(Anonymous)]

Sent to 1993, when I was 21:

Cowboys Cowboys 49ers Cowboys Packers

Forget stocks, place your bets pre-season on the Superbowl and you can rake in the big bucks. Those probably aren't the best five years to do it, but it's the earliest it'd be legal for me to place the bets.

grrr!

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

Darn logout bug.

Anyway, for me it'd be all about the money. I'd rather learn my life lessons the same way I have: by trial and error.

Oh, and if it could be SIX words, and those words could be numbers, it'd be the highest unclaimed multi-state lottery numbers from just after my 18th birthday.

[rob-w.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't think I would say anything that would change much. The only thing I would do is offer reassurance - so I would send a message to when I was about 12 or 13 and getting bullied at school.

The message would be along the lines of "it all turns out great"

[nakedfaery.livejournal.com]

I agree with rob_w. I'd be much too worried about changing anything big and important. Yeah, I get moments when I feel like my life is not great, but there are so many great parts which I couldn't bear to lose. Like if I told myself not to date Dom because of all the hurt he's caused me, I wouldn't have Nathan. And I like having Nathan.

If I sent a message back it would probably be to myself at secondary school, something like, "Don't let people walk all over you."

[wingedbard.livejournal.com]

Sent to myself, 1983, when I was twelve:

computer programming, music, stock MSFT

[klyfix.livejournal.com]

Hmm....

Problem is I perhaps believe too strongly in the notion that if there is any form of time travel the "many worlds" hypothesis is valid. By sending a message to my Past Self he becomes someone who will not become Me. I can't Retcon myself.

Now, even if Retconning myself was possible, there is just not anything that I could say in five words that would help change my life for the better. I'd gain more from the mere knowledge that I'd made it to that future. I can see a situation where getting such a tiny message would help save one's backside, I suppose. Avoiding a disaster, finding out one should not (or should) marry, buying a certain stock. But those don't really apply to me given the limitations.

Tangent to song dealing with the notion of sending a message to one's past self: Twenty Minutes of Oxygen by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I feel like a jerk, because so far I haven't been able to come up with an acceptable answer.

And this is why: my life, in many ways, has sucked. And I'm not using that word casually. I was beaten up daily, abused, terrorized, date-raped, threw away irreplaceable opportunities for love and a better life...I made more than my share of mistakes.

But to counterbalance all that I have my son. And any change I made in my past would almost certainly erase his existence.

Because if I'd started dating in my late teens or twenties, I would almost certainly never have met Teri and had Sebastian.

Which means that I can't answer my question! Sorry. I really thought I'd be able to, but the truth is, I don't think I could use that telegraph through time after all.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute - I just realized that I could send the message AFTER he was born. At which point virtually all of the damage was done, of course. But I could send something like "Buy Google", or some other high-performing stocks.

That would be stupid, though, since stocks cost money and I don't have any.

Ah, I know! I'd send "Don't buy house in Woonsocket".