What If?

I recently read an interesting article about a sock.  A missing sock.  The sock the dryer ate was credited with a start up company in Missouri called, What if…?  It’s a fascinating read.  If you can find a copy of /dᾱym/ Magazine read “It all started with a sock,” by Nichole L. Ballard.  Ironically, I read the article the same day a co-worker disappeared off the face of the earth.  Talk about a “What If” scenario.

“What If?” is such a simple question, but it holds so much power.  What if I could change the rules?  What if I just decided not to play by the rules?  What if I was completely unencumbered?  The possibilities will make your head swim.

Have you ever considered just jumping in your car and driving off into the sunset?  How about quitting your nice secure job in favor of starting your own business?  “What If” can be so empowering and lead to some outcomes that would have been unimaginable, if someone had never dreamed “What If?”

On the other hand, what if everything we take forgranted was suddenly taken?  What if our safe little worlds were suddenly invaded, castrated, and vomited up on the floor?  What if isn’t always a freeing thought.

Oddly enough, one person’s “What If” is often another person’s “Worse Nightmare.”  What if I just jumped in my car and started to drive?  My husband, dog, horses, family and co-workers would be left behind with no closure and I’d like to think, a great loss.  We all know the consequences left behind by drivers who decided the rules didn’t apply to them and injured or killed innocent bystanders.

It’s an interesting brain exercise.  Can we imagine a world where anything is possible, without damaging the world of someone else?  It’s the Butterfly Effect on a mental scale.  By freeing ourselves to dream are we dashing the dreams of someone else?

I watched Spider Man for the first time this weekend.  (I know. Where have I been?)  Peter Park comes to face-to-face with this conundrum.  There is nothing that isn’t our problem.  We live in a vastly interconnected world.  Our words reach across continents in seconds.  We can’t take them back.  The decisions and policies that we enact not only affect us and future generations, but they change the opinion every country has about us.

What if, What if, What If?  It’s the epitome of a Fresh Perspective.  We cannot know the future.  We can theorize about the past.  We are all bound to one another.  What we do does last.  Dream about the future.  Learn from the past.  Remember your duty to others but never be afraid to ask, “What If?”  We can't actually control the future, but we can control how we react to it.

Incidentally, my co-worker was found safe and sound about 24 hours later.