Do You Want to See the Future?
Updated: Sep 7, 2020
When I was 29 years old, I was palm-read by someone who was visiting our neighbor. She told me that before I reached 30, I would get married to someone who was oceans apart from me. Since I had a summer affair with someone before that year and who lived thousands of miles away from me, I thought that maybe he would be the one. I usually don’t believe in something like that but a part of me was wishing there would be some certainty in it since I was still infatuated with him.
Months passed and I turned 30. And that never happened. So much for knowing my future. :)
My topic for today’s blog is inspired from the Season 3 of The Flash. The Flash is all about time travel to the past and the future, alternating timelines and metahuman superheroes fighting metahuman supervillains. One thing that makes The Flash distinguishable from other superheroes though is that he is a beacon of peace and his heart is always full of kindness and love.
Anyway, Season 3 of this series is about trying to find a way to prevent what’s going to happen in the future where Iris, The Flash’s love of his life will die in the hands of Savitar, this season’s major supervillain. The Flash is accidentally shoved 5 months into the future where he sees Iris being killed by Savitar and himself failing to save her. And no matter how he and his team try to change what’s going to happen many times, it will always end up with Iris dying.
As they are discussing about how life will go on after Iris is gone, Iris makes Barry Allen or The Flash promise that he will move on with his life without her and take care of everybody on their team especially his father-in-law, Joe. But when he travels to the year 2024 to find answers and ways to defeat their enemy, he sees his future self so broken, depressed and neglecting his team who are his family, too. He realizes that he has never kept his promise and eventually fails everyone, opposing to what he wants to happen.
In real life, we really don’t know what the future holds. We don’t even know how it is going to be even just a few hours after, let alone a few years later.
I know most of us want to see what lies ahead of us. We even want to go back to the past to correct our mistakes or undo any blunder we have done. But it doesn’t happen that way. Time travel will always be just a far-fetched concept that only happens in movies.
Of course, we want to have the best future where we see ourselves fulfilling our dreams, getting successful in our career, having a blissful marriage. But sometimes, the things we want are not what we usually get.
We always promise ourselves that our future will be a hopeful one. We become so occupied with preparing for a wonderful future for us. But when it never happens, we become frustrated, disappointed and stuck wretchedly in a life that we’ve never wanted.
Just like The Flash. He is totally surprised seeing his future self as not what he has expected. He doesn’t understand why it happens because he has promised Iris that he will still be the same even after she is gone. But that’s not what transpires. The truth is, we will never know what’s going to happen in the future.
I’m not saying we shall not prepare for our future. I always believe that our destiny is not a matter of chance. It’s a matter of choice. Whatever we decide, we face whatever consequences it may give us. Whatever we choose, it determines what life is in store for us. But we shall not be wrapped up with worrying too much about the future. We must stop and smell the roses, feel the wind on our skin and enjoy being under the rain. We must live for today.
I always believe that today is the most important phase in our lives. We always live for the present because we don’t really know what tomorrow will bring. So, why not enjoy life now? As what Jay Garrick says to Barry Allen in one episode, “The future isn’t written yet. And it might not turn out to be what you saw. You need to focus on the here and now. You have to live your life.”
If you’re wondering if that event where Iris is killed by Savitar ever takes place, yes, it does. It’s just that she and H.R. Wells switch place by using a facial transmogrification device where it turns H.R. into Iris and makes Iris look like H.R. In the end, it is H.R. who sacrifices himself.
Before I end this blog, I want to tell you this story. When I was in Grade 6, I went to a fortune-telling booth during our school mini-fair. The fortune teller who was hiding behind a curtain read my palm and told me, “You will become an Accountant and be very successful in business.” I became neither.
Can we really see the future? No, we can’t. As what Iris says in one of the episodes, “Future isn’t always what it seems. We decide what it gets to be.” We just have to seize the day and enjoy life for the moment.