A Journey in Time                       

 

Conclusion

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“So, how much do you want for it?”
    The college student—he would soon be starting his first semester at the local community campus—was ready to close the deal.
    “I've got an offer for sixty dollars.”
    The student had already decided. He needed wheels, the yellow Schwinn was almost brand new, and with the booming popularity of ten-speed bicycles, he felt fortunate to have found this one. 
    “I'll give you sixty-five,” he said.

 

 

 

There was hardly a cloud in the sky. 
    Classes were over, the weekend was beginning, and autumn in southeastern Wisconsin offered days on end of sunshine and cool, fresh air.

    What he enjoyed most about the bicycle—besides the fall foliage, the endorphin high, and the freedom of the open road, the student decided—was the solitude.
    The hours in the saddle, alone with his thoughts, were an opportunity to reflect, ponder, meditate.
    During these times of quiet introspection, the student's thoughts often turned to an unusual encounter of some months previously. The encounter had occurred during a summer hitchhiking adventure out West.

 

    “Suppose,” a stranger had said to him, on a deserted stretch of wilderness highway in northern California, "that, years from now—after you get married, raise a family, have a career—you could return here, to this time and place, and meet the person you are now. Suppose the two of you could sit and talk and spend time together. What do you think that would be like?"
    “I suppose,” he had replied, “in a situation like that, I would want to ask questions.”
    “What kind of questions?” the stranger had asked.

 

    Several had come immediately to mind: Who am I going to marry? What is my wife like? Are we happy? How many children do we have? 

 

    Surprisingly, the stranger had brushed his questions aside. 

    “Never mind that,” the stranger had said. “That will all happen naturally.

 

    “Listen carefully,” he then said. “If you were to meet your future self, this is what he would say to you. This is what he would want you to know.

 

    “First, life is all about making choices. And we don't always choose wisely.

 

    “Secondly, life plays for keeps. There is no going back to change the past, no matter how much we wish it could be otherwise.

 

    “Thirdly, we're human, which means we're fallible. We make mistakes, and we must learn to accept that.

 

    “And lastly, mistakes are not final. But getting back on track may take time. So it's important to hang in there, no matter what.”

 

    “How do you know that’s what my future self would say to me?” the student had asked.

    The stranger had simply looked at him.

    “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Remember this moment, remember what I’ve told you, and in forty years, you decide if I was right.”

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    -End-

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