Replay
Jeremy relates an imaginary encounter between his present self and the one from 10 years ago. Amusing, yet unmistakably familiar to most of us. Who has not reminisced about the times long gone and wished they could take a quantum leap backwards and relive the past, and not as a verdant youth, but with the accumulated knowledge of the years? People say, “I would not repeat the blunders of my life. I would do things differently.”, and I confess that I am guilty of the same reflections from time to time. Yet somehow I think that being wiser than your years would probably not help much, because your basic self is fairly resistant to change. A mountain stream follows an already wrought channel – the path of least resistance – only gradually widening and altering it over time. And so is life, with its events and experiences, shaped to be uniquely yours by your character, attitudes, fears, and values. Changing other people is tough. Changing yourself is like trying to bite your own elbow.
A great book related to this topic is Replay by Ken Grimwood.
