2008 Woodie Awards
Turning back time: a super power or a weakness?
Sarah Morello
Issue date: 12/4/04 Section: Feature of the Week-Superpowers
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Everyone at one time or another wishes that they could have a superpower. For the next two minutes as you read this article, I do. I don't want to read people's minds, I don't want to be able to fly (mainly because I'm scared of heights), and I wouldn't even want to be invisible. I would have the power to turn back time.
Now I know in the movies that this can be a dangerous power, because it can mess up events later on in life, but for some things that have happened, I think it would be the most powerful superpower to be used.
For instance, if I could turn back time and change the past we could have avoided the tragic 9-11 events. I'd just make a quick ring-a-ding-ding to the government, tell them what was going to happen, and then they could have evacuated the people from the buildings. Lives would have possibly still have been lost, but then again, I could have called up one of my X-Men to stop the planes from actually crashing.
I also think this power could be used for other personal beneficial reasons. Let's just say I didn't have a lot of time to study for one of my tests, and I took it and completely failed. All I would have to do is go back in time, (knowing all the questions already of course) and take it again. Some might say this is cheating; I'd just say it would be using one of your God given talents. Why should I put it to waste?
Or then there's always the time where I may have mouthed-off to my parents, and regretted it the minute the words came out of my mouth. What would I do? Skip back to the past and instead of telling them how much they irritate me, I'd tell my mom she had a nice haircut and that I loved both of them.
Now, this would all be well and nice, but I think the reason we don't have superpowers such as these is because we have to learn from our actions-whether good or bad-to see how they shape our future. The events of September 11th were tragic, and I believe most people would agree with that. But even if someone had the power to stop them from happening, everyone's future (even people not in America) would be changed. History books would not hold that event in their pages, and 9-11-01 would have just been another day in the life of everyone. Re-taking my test would benefit me, but I would never learn the importance of studying when it really counts. Yelling at my parents is something I shouldn't do, and even though I got grounded and was angry with them, that is perfectly normal.
Now I know in the movies that this can be a dangerous power, because it can mess up events later on in life, but for some things that have happened, I think it would be the most powerful superpower to be used.
For instance, if I could turn back time and change the past we could have avoided the tragic 9-11 events. I'd just make a quick ring-a-ding-ding to the government, tell them what was going to happen, and then they could have evacuated the people from the buildings. Lives would have possibly still have been lost, but then again, I could have called up one of my X-Men to stop the planes from actually crashing.
I also think this power could be used for other personal beneficial reasons. Let's just say I didn't have a lot of time to study for one of my tests, and I took it and completely failed. All I would have to do is go back in time, (knowing all the questions already of course) and take it again. Some might say this is cheating; I'd just say it would be using one of your God given talents. Why should I put it to waste?
Or then there's always the time where I may have mouthed-off to my parents, and regretted it the minute the words came out of my mouth. What would I do? Skip back to the past and instead of telling them how much they irritate me, I'd tell my mom she had a nice haircut and that I loved both of them.
Now, this would all be well and nice, but I think the reason we don't have superpowers such as these is because we have to learn from our actions-whether good or bad-to see how they shape our future. The events of September 11th were tragic, and I believe most people would agree with that. But even if someone had the power to stop them from happening, everyone's future (even people not in America) would be changed. History books would not hold that event in their pages, and 9-11-01 would have just been another day in the life of everyone. Re-taking my test would benefit me, but I would never learn the importance of studying when it really counts. Yelling at my parents is something I shouldn't do, and even though I got grounded and was angry with them, that is perfectly normal.