Life is full of "what if"s'. We constantly ask ourselves "what if…?", like “what if I got out of bed just five minutes earlier this morning? Would I have made it to work on time? Would I have been able to eat breakfast and not be so hungry right now?” or “what if I studied a bit longer last night? Would I be sitting here staring at a blank page right now instead of answering the exam questions in front of me? Would I be thinking about how awful it is that I probably have to repeat this course next year?”
Nobody really knows the answers to those questions because the truth is you didn't get up five minutes earlier and you didn't study a bit longer for your test, so you will never know what the outcome would have been.
Sometimes I wonder about the bigger "what if"s', like what life would be like for all of us if it weren't for certain people, events, or places. Consider what life would be like given the following situations:
What If…
George Bush wasn't President of the United States of America? Would there be war in Iraq? If so, would there STILL be war in Iraq? Would we be paying an arm and a leg for oil? Would there have been a 9/11? Would be Jon Stewart be as amusing as he is if he didn't have George Bush to poke fun at?
Oprah never made it big? What if she was still some small-time journalist on a small TV program who nobody knew? Love her or hate her, she has had a huge impact on the lives of people in need. Would the people she has helped still be in this world? Would they have received the help from some other angel network?
There were no burger joints? Would obesity be such a huge issue? Would heart disease be such a huge issue? Would people just feed their cravings with other forms of junk food? But what about foundations, like the Ronald McDonald foundation, that are dedicated to supporting children's charities? Would the support come from some other similar foundation, or would the charities have to make do without those millions of dollars that come from donors like the Ronald McDonald foundation?
There was no such thing as the Internet? Would libraries be swarmed with visitors seeking quick answers to their questions, the way search engines like google and yahoo are? Would we be so up to date on daily news and world events, like the war in Iraq? Would the retail music industry sales be plummeting? Would we be so paranoid about people stealing our identity and our valuable information? Would we be spending less time indoors and more time outdoors playing, resulting in a lower incidence of obesity?
Marijuana was legal? Would the U.S. government have millions of dollars to devote to other programs and services that promote a healthier and safer place to live? If so, is that what they would actually do with that money, or would it go to supporting war efforts? Would more people start using marijuana simply because it's no longer illegal?
There was no such thing as coffee? How difficult would the mornings actually be? How productive would we be at work/school? Would we be all drinking soda in the morning? What would advertisements say to replace “for the cost of just one cup of coffee a day you could…”?
These are just a few of the "what if"s. I ponder over from time to time. I don't claim to know the answers to these questions. All I can do is offer up guesses. Maybe life would be better without these things/people in our lives, but maybe life would be much worse. Who knows.
