Because I choose to live my life now

Came from a screening of Deja Vu, starring Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer and Jim Caviezel. Really did not expect much from the movie apart from a commonly encountered twist and a storyline that is reminiscent of how things are when it comes to plot formulation in the genre. Though much of what I expected did become actuality as I let nearly two hours alone pass; I could not help but bring up certain elements about the movie that still stir in my mind. So anyhows, here's this movie buff again in one of his exploits alone. Did pass by for churchwork for a while before heading to the chilly evening outside.

The flow of events basically evolve around the possibility of bridging the past and present by creating a third-dimensional wormhole that allows objects to pass thru and actually become parts of what happens in the past, even altering the course of the future. A similar movie, of which title I do not recall, shares the proposition that we live in just one reality in a number of dimensional realities. That should we change the past, the stream of time will meander into something else, thus eliminating the supposed future from which the change emanates from. Much like the movie Paycheck which amused me for a time, there is this emphasis on the Einsteinian belief that we time viewing (or seeing things as they happen in the past from the present) being possible. Deja Vu takes it to the next level with a high-tech, high-consuming device that is able to make this concrete change possible via transmission of objects. At the climax of the movie, Denzel himself defies alleged laws of physics and supposed caution to send himself back to the past and save the day. How he does it, just watch the movie. The thrill is worth the payment. And for someone like me who tries his best to mean everything to everyone, being alone for a while is a great thing.

But before I spoil it down with my landsliding tone, I stop to think. The movie somehow creates the message and transmits it in a powerful way. To me it is the question of: "What if all this seemingly ambitious Hollywood science fiction is to become true?" Should this kind of technology be available now, I am certain a number of people will pay a life's fortune to have the chance to cheat destiny (which I do not believe in). I wonder how it is to alter the normal course---the course you have come to know and then live out the past so that it becomes more favorable to you. I wonder how it is to figure out Sir Ambeth's trick question and go back to include the bell item on the thirteen most important events in Philippine history. I wonder how it would be if I had saved enough money for a higher-line cellphone far advance than what I am happily using now. Then it just hit me. This exercise is for those who have regrets in life or are outright masochists wanting more than what they have and should be thankful for.

Yet it still intrigues me. What if I had said the right words and in the right time as the song of Boyzone goes? What if I had the felicitous opportunity to have been there when someone needed company and affection the most? What if I had knowledge to what my life will be in the future so that I can revisit myself and leave pointers for coursing my life?

Then it hit me as it did Ben Affleck in Paycheck...

"If you showed someone his future, he has NO FUTURE." (emphasis proudly mine)

Life will be so simple and so meaningless if we all had the power to violate understood laws and precepts of life so that we do what we want when we want. This is abuse of freedom. This is abuse of knowledge. And bluntly, this is sheer cowardice to face the future as human beings ought to be. But then again, the inevitability of this potential gadget becoming a mainstream device in the far future haunts me.

The temptation to right the past is as threatening as the temptation to go for the kill out of impulse as suicide bombers, politicians, and lovers do. And yet, as chivalry claws its way to my mind, there can be no honor in this. Maybe I and my time are not yet ready for this. Maybe some of my colleagues welcome the idea for the benefit of all. But just imagine the chaos to ensue this discovery. Wow.

As I said, the masochist, the regretful, and the insatiable should be the ones to die for this. For myself, I'd rather keep the mystery and meaning to my existence.

But am ahead of myself. Deja Vu is after all, an operative's story. Benefit of the doubt due, our police can certainly use that kind of information (reminds me now of the Minority Report).

AND EVEN HOPELESS ROMANTICS WHO THINK CHIVALRY CAN BE A FLUID CONCEPT.

Hehehehe...

Congrats to LAE passers. Congrats to everyone for playing their part in this plethora of ideas and experiences we call LIFE---for however one intends to live it out. God bless.