“When is everything going to be back to normal?  Can we just fast forward to that point?”

Have you ever found yourself asking that question?  I have, several times.  I was just sharing that question with some friends recently.  I doubt I’m alone in that sentiment.  It seems like many of us long for the good old days of 2019, before the Covid Era, and would like for 2020 to just end already, so that things will be “back to normal.”  (And don’t even get me started on the phrase “the new normal”, the most overused phrase of 2020.  I refuse to accept that things will be this way for the entire rest of our lives, so the phrase “the new normal” aggravates me to no end, but I digress.)  Of course, even when 2021 does come around in less than three months, it’s still certain that things will still not be back to normal by that time.  I’m not sure why January 1, 2021 seems to be some magical date in which things will return to normal – a date in which a vaccine will be available, coronavirus will suddenly be eradicated, there will be no need to wear masks or socially distance, and everyone gets along with each other.

This brings me back to my question – when is that going to happen?  When is everything going to be back to normal?  And can we just skip to that point?  In pondering this question, I was reminded of a couple of movies that underscore the importance of being careful what you wish for and appreciating the moment we live in now.

The first movie that I was reminded of is the 2006 Adam Sandler movie Click.  Although it falls well short of my list of favorite movies of all time, there is a lesson from the movie that I believe still applies here.  I’m not generally a fan of Adam Sandler movies (except Happy Gilmore), as the humor in these movies generally tends to be pretty lowbrow, rude, and just plain dumb.  The movie Click contains some of this type of humor as well, but halfway through, the plot actually takes more of a serious tone (for the most part).

The movie features the main character, Michael (played by Sandler), going to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy a universal remote for the TV.  After falling asleep on one of the beds, he wakes up and buys a magical remote from a mysterious salesman.  Initially, he discovers he can do some cool things with the remote, from putting people on mute or pause to fast forwarding through arguments with his wife.  However, he takes it too far when he learns that he can fast forward through entire evenings with his family while remaining on “auto-pilot” – going through the motions of everyday life while his mind skips ahead.  Eventually, frustrated at not getting an expected promotion at work, he hastily grabs the remote and says “Take me to my next promotion!”  He is then indeed transported to his next promotion at work, but soon discovers that an entire year has gone by, he has missed some big moments in his family’s life, and his marriage has suffered.

Michael attempts to return the remote but after the salesman refuses to take it back, and after the remote keeps re-appearing after several attempts to throw it away, he realizes he is stuck with the remote.  Eventually, without really meaning to, he skips ahead ten more years.  Although he has now become CEO of his company, he is now fat and divorced, and he is filled with regret at what has become of him and for missing all the moments in his family’s life from the past ten years.  The plot goes on like this, as he uncontrollably skips ahead several more times, only to be dismayed at what he has missed at each turn of events.  During the climatic moment of the movie, as he is now an old man realizing that his now-adult son is turning into him – a workaholic who doesn’t have enough time for his family – he uses his dying words to tell his son to put family first.  But, as the creators of the movie probably had to make it have a happy ending, he is then transported back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to the moment in which he woke up.  Apparently, it was all a dream…or was it?  Was he simply given a second chance?  Either way, Michael learns his lesson to appreciate the moments in life and to put his family first.

The reason I was reminded of this movie was because I have often wished we could fast forward to the moment when things return to normal.  Again, I refuse to accept this as our “new normal”, as though coronavirus will rule our lives for the rest of our existence on Earth, so I want to know when things will be at least relatively back to normal again.  But I also don’t want to be like the guy in the movie who suddenly fast forwards through one year of his life and then realizes he can’t get that year back.  Fortunately, this is not an option that is available to us in real life anyway.  I suppose the lesson is to appreciate each moment, even the ones that seem less than ideal at the time.

“Okay,” you say, “I understand that skipping ahead in time is not an option, and that even if it were, it would not be worth it to do so.  But can we at least go back in time, to a much simpler time, before coronavirus affected everyone?  Maybe we could warn our past selves and the whole world about it?  Or maybe we can be our past selves from several years ago and make different decisions about our lives?”  Well, no, we can’t do that either.  If we’ve learned nothing else from time travel, it’s that going back in time and changing anything could create a time paradox, the result of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe.  Granted, that’s worst-case scenario.  The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.  I am, of course, referring to one of my favorite movies of all time, Back to the Future.

In the Back to the Future trilogy, Marty McFly and Doc Brown have several time travel adventures from what was then present-day 1985 to the years 1955, 2015, and 1885.  Each adventure has somebody changing the past (or future), and then trying to undo the unintended consequences of alternate realities.  I don’t have time for a full recap of these movies here…just, watch the movies.  If you get nothing else out of what I’m saying here, it’s this: If you’ve never seen the Back to the Future trilogy, watch it!

Side note: Marty and Doc use a DeLorean as their time machine.  I sometimes hear hypothetical lines of thinking such as, “If we could take the DeLorean and go back to the time of Jesus and witness the amazing things he did in person…”  And I want to say, “No, it would not work like that, because the DeLorean only traveled in time; it did not teleport.  If you take the DeLorean back to Biblical times, you’re still in the United States, and all you’re going to see is a bunch of trees, and you’ll probably just crash into one of them at 88 miles per hour.”

At any rate, it may be appealing to want to go back in time and get a do-over, or to change our current circumstances for the better.  And while it’s interesting to think about, the fact is, it’s a waste of time to actually dwell on it, because of course we can’t actually do it.  And even if we could, basically all the time travel movies teach us we shouldn’t.

I have sometimes been presented with questions that ask something along the lines of, “If you could go back and have a do-over, what would you do differently?”  I often struggle with these types of questions, as they are purely hypothetical.  These questions can be good in a sense, as they can challenge us to learn something from our previous experiences.  I’m sure everyone has certain moments that they wish they could have handled differently if given the chance, or opportunities that we should have taken but didn’t.  A healthy reflection on these moments can help us learn from our mistakes and/or experiences.  But in another sense, we may want to be careful with this line of thinking which may lead us to want to go back and change things.  Since we can’t actually do it, wishing to go back and change anything is just fruitless.  Besides, who’s to say that if we did change anything from the past, that we would actually make things better?  Which reminds me of another TV show…

Another ridiculous example of time travel comes from a 2011 episode of Family Guy, in which Brian and Stewie go back in time to 1999.  Brian uses the opportunity to tell his past self about 9/11, which occurred in 2001.  When they return to the present day, they discover that past Brian had used this information to stop 9/11 from happening, but somehow this led to a chain reaction that would make things even worse.  So, they had to go back, undo everything, and restore 9/11.  However, this leads to a confusing sequence in which several versions of themselves appear at the same place and time from different alternate realities from the future, each to stop their previous selves from carrying out what they were about to do, and to debate on which next course of action was correct.  I’m not going to draw an actual lesson from this (nor should I, since Family Guy is not a good show to draw lessons from), but I wanted to cite another example of how entertainment tells us that traveling back in time to change anything, if it were possible, could end up in disaster.

It might be an attractive idea if we had the option to go through our life several times and change certain life choices each time to see where it might lead, then pick which “life” we like the best, but of course that can never happen either.  As it is, we’re stuck in the present.  And since we don’t have a DeLorean or a magic remote anyway, I guess we may as well make the best of the present time.

So, what can we learn from all this?  First, if you’ve never watched the Back to Future trilogy, go watch it right now.  Second, don’t travel forward or backward in time, or you could really mess things up, as illustrated by examples from movies or TV.  Third, I want to challenge anyone reading this, including myself, to appreciate and even enjoy the moment we’re in.  As much as I have wished during the past few months that I could fast-forward until everything goes back to normal, or to go back to pre-pandemic times, or to go back and re-do or change anything, it’s obviously fruitless to do so.  So, as tough as it may be, let’s enjoy the journey and appreciate each moment.  I’m sure it will be worth it in the end.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)