Thursday, November 17, 2016

Timeless

Recently, my wife and I found a new show on NBC called "Timeless," which follows three main characters who are pursuing a time-travelling terrorist, trying to stop him from going back in time and changing the past, and thus, destroying America.

In each episode, the crew learns of how a small detail in history actually impacted the country in a major way. Those plot twists are reminiscent of "Quantum Leap," an NBC show from the late 1980s where a time traveler "leaped" into the lives of individuals to stop some catastrophic event from happening that would ultimately destroy the individual's life.

In each show, we see the importance of ordinary people, and the importance of empowering people to great things. It stirs the imagination. What if you could go back in time and fix ___________? What if you could prevent the Kennedy assassinations? Pearl Harbor? What if you could warn the engineers building the Bay Bridge, thus saving hundreds of lives from the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake?

If going back in time to fix the past captures our imaginations, then why doesn't fixing the present?

If we can imagine changing the world for the better by warning President Lincoln to avoid Ford's Theatre, or by tackling Lee Harvey Oswald as he entered the Texas Book Depository, then why can't we imagine changing the world for the better by uplifting the people around us?

The lesson we learn from time-travel stories is not "what could have been," but rather that we have the potential to impact the world in big ways, simply by helping people and speaking truth.

So, embrace your mission! What will you do to change the world today?

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