The Butterfly Effect
December 5, 2007 by Seasons
I was watching The Butterfly Effect last night. If you have not watched the movie, it is loosely based on the theory that the flutter of a butterfly wings can set things in motion to lead to a tsunami in a different part of the world. The movie however depicts the main character’s ability to go back in time and make changes in his past and we see how it impact his present.
Sometimes a movie lead one to imagine what if they had powers like those depicted… and this one did. I wondered what if I had powers to go back and change my past to improve those aspects of my life that am not happy with today.
Scene 1
This scene takes me back to 1977 ,am at the gate of Karen C primary school and I see my friend Tabitha knocked down by a vehicle. She crossed the road without looking left and the although the driver did try to stop, she got knocked and died on the spot. I had seen the car coming and tried to shout to her but it was too late.
If I could go back to a few minutes before the accident, would I warn her or deliberately slow her down to let the car go through? I probably would. Tabitha was my first crush ( I was 7 years old) and the prettiest thing I ever saw. I kept the handkerchief she had given me many years after her death. This memory haunted me for years as I grew up and I felt responsible for her death. I did eventually stop feeling guilty and forgot. If Tabitha lived, how would her life turned out, would she have passed her CPE 3 years later? Which school would she have joined in high school and where would that have led- university? Would our friendship survive the teenage years? Could we have been lovers or remained friends? What impact would her life had on mine?
Scene 2
The scene moves to 1980 and it is school selection time; I have the opportunity to decided between Nairobi school, Lenana School and Alliance School. I pick Nairobi school as my choice because my brother was there already and a rugby star.
Knowing my subsequent examination results, would I change my first choice selection and choose Alliance? What difference would it have made? How would my life turn out? I eventually got enough points to take me to Alliance but got selected to go to Nairobi School instead as it was my first choice.
Scene 3
Fast forward to 1992 and my first job and a new marketing assistant is introduced to us. She is pretty and has this body and butt that keeps going on and on like the energizer bunny. My work pals and I set a dare on who would take her out first. As it is I was still seeing my high school sweetheart. I would volunteer to buy her first lunch. She would eventually marry me and bear me two lovely girls. Readers of the blog know how that ended.
If I could go back, would I ignore this chick and keep seeing my puppy love?Would I participate in this dare? Would I have married her? kids? How would my life turned out?
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I went over very many scenes like these- some very old some as recent as a few weeks ago and wondered what I would have changed. Pain, joy failure and triumph marks ones life and apart from the wonder, I would not change a thing.
When all is said and done, these experiences are what make me who I am and the Butterfly Effect is just a movie.
kewl, cn u hook me up with it?n am loving yua page!!!
I can give you the movie since I bought it and I have watched it. Thanks for the props
I have watched the movie and it is one of the few movies I have watched several times just for the beauty of the storyline in fact there are two versions of the movie with very different endings.
What if?
I also have a lot of those moments where I wish I had done something differently but since we are a sum total of all the choices we make in life and evaluating where I am I can only say that I made at least 50% of the choices right.
I did not know there were two versions of the film. I will go to the bonus part of the DVD and check it out.
I watched the movie sometime back and was rather disturbed by it… can’t really remember what. I also remember reflecting on the things that I wished I could change and it came down to one decision that I feel has affected my life and if I had made another one, I KNOW my life would have been different.
Can’t stand Aston Kutcher these days. I watched the movie before I knew of him. Now I can’t watch anything he does.. just gets on my nerves.
This was before Kutcher was ‘big”. The movie disturbed me too initially before it had my mind wondering
Its interesting that today I spent part of the day wishing some of my past erased. Well we know it cant be but the past defines us ..I think.
You are right! The past defines us.
if we could change the past what would we change?It’s a good thing we can’t- FOR WHERE WOULD WE STOP?
Great thought…. we would never be able to stop!
Hey S&R,
Just read thru your blog. Interesting.
Haven’t watched the movie, but I’ve also wished sometimes that I could change the past.
I agree though that the past is what makes us who we are now…
Welcome to my ’spot’, take a seat we are serving coffee shortly… Get the movie and don’t regret your past. If your raed my post on scars, it tell the same thing. We are a sum total of our past.
Definately food for thought, what would i change and why?
..am def. watching that movie before the end of the week. Nice post!
Let me know what you think about the movie.
Hi
Recently discovered your blog. Just spent a happy afternoon procrastinating from work by reading the entire thing.
Karibu and thanks
You and your life are FASCINATING! Really? I thought a usual run-of-the mill Nairobian life
I think the butterfly effect need not be all negative.
Some of the best things in my life happened seemingly by fluke.
blog on!!!
i’m going for that movie.
dayum, that’s some traumatising stuff that you saw. at only 7? shucks. CPE? (whistles)
Am 38..did my Primary finals in 1980..yes..it was CPE then.
i never think about the choices i made in the past, maybe coz they’ve led to the piece of art that i am, no masterpiece, but surely not trash, and i like/love it. and so long as i’m happy and no-one is suffering coz of my choices…i’m cool.
You have never looked back to choice you made in the past? Ever?
now let’s think about tomorrow’s decisions. and if today i make a wrong decision, heck i know i was making the best one at the time. if it can be corrected, correct it, if it can’t then mosey on along to the next one and deal with the ripples when they get to you. if at all.
all i can say is so far so good. all butterflies, no effect!
i wouldn’t change anything.
if we can change the past the present becomes pretty irrelevant and since all actions can be erased or corrected, the future and present become pretty boring! where would i draw the line? i would definitely abuse that power, i am only human after all!
I enjoy the “What If..?” speculation in movies and sci-fi. Haven’t seen The Butterfly Effect, but there’s another movie, Sliding Doors, where Gwyneth Paltrow’s character is running to catch a train. In once scenario, she catches it, and in another scenario, she does not. It has an interesting ending, I recommend the movie. By the way, don’t read the Wikipedia entry (spoilers), that’s not the way I remember the ending.
Chief, Lenana didn’t even occur to you as a choice
?!
You must be a Changerian? Ha ha.. My folks live very near Lenana school and there is no way in hell they would have wanted me to go to Lenana.. the way the boys were caught with changaa from satellite..my mum thought it was a devil school. My eldest brother went there in the 70’s and the rivarly at home with him against my brother and I is legendary!!
Correction: for the Wikipedia entry, that’s not the ending I remember.
Never! if i did, it was for two seconds then i quickly discovered i could do nothing about it but move on.
Yes, I’m a Changerian, couldn’t let your ‘diss’ slip
. Rirush, yes, the devil’s camp. I can understand your paro’s sentiments.
Strangely I always wonder about that too, what if I had chosen the other path? Lots of what if’s bt anyway I guess that’s da way it was meant to be…
I watched that movie @ a friend’s house n I would still watch it again…
I’ve always thought that if I had a chance there’s a part or two of my life that I would change, or erase. The fact that I’ve been looking for that device from “Eternal Sunshine’ says a lot. Then this last week, I was away on Holiday; different places, different scenes, and I had an ‘aha’ moment. I am what I am because of how the past has shaped me. And that ONE thing that I’d want to change is the reason I’ve made certain huge steps in the last coupla years. Ok, lemme go blog in me blog. That said, I’m definitely getting the said movie from my lib for this weekend
The Butterfly Effect was awesome..
At first time, i didn’t like that movie, but several day’s ago I have watched it…
We can’t change our past, but i’m sure that we can change our future start from now..Build your dream and apply it in our life will give us a happiness..
Just learn something from our past..Repair all mistakes right now..
Belajar tuk ikhlas karena semuany pasti ada hikmahny…
Jgn pernah menyesal…
Thx 4 the m0vie..