Hindsight (HS): So young Johnny Ray, how old are you?
Younger me, Johnny Ray (JR): 13
HS: Whats that you're holding there?
JR: A list of all the things I want to do with my life.
HS: Let me see- (takes the note from JR and reads) - Oh dear boy, you do dream don't you?
JR: What do you mean? I can do any of those things if I want to. Why can't I?
HS: Because you're a boy from a small country town born to parents of meager means. (Shaking the note at JR and says) You won't get to be a scientist, that takes years of study and money. (HS reads note again)You'll never have kids or a wife, but that is something to discuss another time. (HS reads note again) You'll never write a best selling novel, you'll never do any of this!
JR: So why are you here then if not to offer me advice, the wisdom of Hindsight, so I can achieve all these things?
HS: I'm here to stop you wasting time trying to get to places you'll never find or take up opportunities that don't count. (Folds arms and 'humphs' with a tone of superiority and victory).
JR: I write a new list almost every day of what I dream of doing. I don't ever consider setting myself boundaries or containing my thoughts. Some days I want to be a scientist, the next a teacher. Some days I want to get married, the next to remain single and travel the world. There doesn't have to be a set path for me to go forward. It doesn't have to be smooth either. Just a path of my own leading to every horizon. I have heard some adults wishing for the wisdom of Hindsight to get them out of trouble or so they can do things differently, but as a kid I don't need you. I wont ever need you. I have my goals, I have my ideas, I have my strengths and I have my weaknesses. Collectively these will allow me to live a life complete which resounds in adventure and never will I wish for the wisdom of Hindsight. That will only change who I am destined to become and I don't know who that is yet, but I like them already.
So, the moral of the story is that the wisdom of Hindsight is not always a welcome thing. We wish we could have used it many times over, but what would really happen if we did. How many accidental things would no longer happen that would turn out to be truly awesome!
