I’ve got an anecdote for you. I was recently sitting around a campfire with a bunch of people when someone raised a question. “Would you rather stay at the age you are now, with the life you have now, or have the knowledge you have now but the life you had ten years ago?” Perhaps you think it’s a simple question, but this raised quite a lively debate amongst the group! Sure, getting the “in” on cryptocurrency and buying stock in Zoom and Apple sounds pretty nice if you’re looking to make a fortune. Yet to not have the relationships and the happiness that comes with where one is now? It’s a pretty tricky trade off. I think one of the guys at the fire pit joked, “Eh, I’d just buy new friends,” and the conversation moved forward. Yet foresight (and hindsight) is an interesting concept.
We shake our heads when we think of what we could’ve told (or warned) our younger selves. Sure, it’d be nice to know that a decision leads to a particular outcome, but there goes spontaneity, learning, intuition, and mistakes – living, in essence. These are the stories that grip me. Where would life have taken you had you chosen a different pathway, what decisions would you make with a glimpse of your future at hand, and what would happen if you had a chance to go back?
When Dannie of In Five Years catches a glimpse of her life five years into the future, how does it stack up against the fact that she’s already engaged and the man she’s envisioned is dating her best friend? When Shaheen’s father goes missing in Jukebox, what stories will a musical vessel reveal about the person he’s hoped to become? When Josh and Emma discover Facebook fifteen years before Facebook, what does it hold for The Future of Us? Finally, when Freda in Memory Jars realizes saving memories comes at its own price of living, what will keep her in the present? I write these in inquisitive form, which I hope will prompt you to seek your own answers as you read!
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