Moon

Now it's a few days after Christmas it is a time to make a list of what has
to be taken back to Marks or some other shop. A time to recall that Bill
actually did turn up late with a present for you and it was just as well you
had a spare box of chocolates handy.

So I have a question for you - if you could change the past, what would you
do differently?

I did a recent thought on space where I observed that the light we see
coming from distant stars is many years old.  Some of our galaxies are
millions of light years away, so, in theory at least, if aliens lived in
those galaxies, and had strong enough telescopes, they would see the Earth
as it looked in the past.  Seeing History as it was.

Since that time I have discovered that such a telescope now exists and has
just been launched.  The James Webb telescope features a tennis-court-sized,
five-layer sunshield that reduces the impact of heat from the sun to allow
for a better observation of deep space. It is equipped with a sophisticated
array of stargazing equipment allowing it to be able to peer into the
farthest reaches of space, some 13.8 billion light-years away.

If this scope was able to beam back pictures of the earth to inhabitants on
a far flung planet, are there events in our history that you would prefer
weren't broadcast?  The Wars, the Inquisition, the refugee crisis? 

Conversely, are there events in our planet's past that you be proud for
others to see? The courage of those who ended the slave trade? The first
responders on 9/11?  The heroism of our Health workers?

Over my lifetime there are things I regret doing and things I wish I had
done. Things I don't want others to know about, much less observe.

The memory of some of those "what ifs" is painful, particularly if it
relates to people who are no longer here or circumstances that might have
been influenced for the better had I acted differently. 



It seems to me that I have two options to pursue.

I can either become a slave to my past, spending my time overshadowed by my
failings and shortcomings or I can accept that I can't change the past, but
I can influence the future.



A new year is only a few days away and before you make a list of resolutions
you will inevitably fail to keep, why not take time to reflect on how you
might resolve to make a difference to one person this year. What would that
look like? Are you up for it? This might not change anything in your past,
but it has the potential to change some else's future.