Time Travel: Do You Believe

Again, I must thank my good friend Bill Holland for his inspirational short stories that are such a pleasure to read. :)

Recently, while reading another short story from my friend here on Hubpages, Bill, I started getting that feeling of nostalgia. His story of how family life was like in the great depression, and the things' families had to struggle through to get by is very interesting to read. However, what interests me the most about his story is how the people from the past really stuck together. They struggled through the hard times and knew how to maintain a sense of happiness. They were people of virtue back in those days, people who loved deeply, and had extremely focused values of God and Life. I even know this is true, if you are my age, and I won’t mention that number, but if you are my age, you had grandparents who may have lived in these times. They told you stories through the years about the struggles and the lifestyles, and if you listened closely, you held on to those stories in your memory banks, and you now feel lucky to have heard them. I believe my friend Bill even gives thanks to his own grandparents for the inspiration for his heart-warming story that I have so enjoyed reading. I always anticipate the next installment.

I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to live in the 1920s, 30s, and even the 40s. My own grandfather was in World War II, and though he was a fairly quiet man, and would never tell us little ones of a war, in which he actually lost a sibling to, myself, being the observant child I was, always could see a little pain through those big blue eyes of his.

Oh my goodness…my Papa was the best. He loved us kids, and you would always see that smile of his, never a frown. Even when they were carrying him out on a gurney taking him to the hospital, he stretched his arm to us kids with a smile and told us, “don’t worry, Papa will be back.” His life, his struggle, was hard, but it made him a strong family-oriented man with appreciation for the little he did have. However, my Papa died before I ever saw him again, he never returned home. I was five years old. Those days of walking to the corner store holding his big old hand, and getting excited because he always bought us a treat of candy corn were forever gone, tucked safely into my memory, maybe just so I could tell you this story today.

He would also fix us peanut butter spoons heaped so high I was smacking to get my tongue loose for what seemed like hours.To this day, I will get a glob full of peanut butter on a spoon, and it satisfies my hunger all day. And here's a little tip I learned from him; if you ever run out of milk for your cereal, if you have a can of carnation cream stuck back in your pantry, just mix some of that with a little water and pour it on your cereal. That’s how my Pops fed us our cereal, and it was yummy! No doubt, he found many ways to make life work being poor back in those depression days he lived through.

Anyway, he never really told stories, but my Granny told a few, and then there were also my dad’s family, his Grandmother and Aunts who lived in this same era told me some great stories as well. Very different ways of life than my mom's parents, but the same when it came to family togetherness. I should mention though, that I did get a story out of my Papa without him even speaking a word. When his only sister passed away, my mother inherited this old purse of hers that was still stuffed with aged letters and things from the past. It was the one she carried while her brothers fought in the War, and it became clear to me why she never discarded it or its contents. It was an amazing story packed away in that little green purse. I remember just sitting with my mom for hours looking through old letters from my Papa. It was almost like I could hear his voice explaining how things were going over there, wishing they could all be together once again. The hopeful words of my Papa, and I understood why he never spoke of that time again. It was beautiful in faith, sad in longing. I’ll never forget it.

All this I just wrote about here, is a little nostalgic and reminiscent, but brings me to the part of this hub, where I finally would like to address time travel. Time travel has always been an extremely fascinating topic to discuss, and read about. There have been so many theories through the years, from the great Albert Einstein's theory to just as brilliant Stephen Hawking's theory. Einstein and Hawking had a similar theory in one respect; they both felt that time is measured by speed.

Hawking believes that time flows one way, and that way is to the future. Hawking’s theory is based on the time machine actually being the big black hole that gapes in our universe. The closer you get to the black hole the more you get sucked into it. This black gaping hole has a great effect on time. It seems to slow it down immensely, which is why his theory is that it is a natural time machine. Hawking’s theory goes on to say that a spaceship could very well orbit this big hole of gas and matter if it doesn’t get sucked in. His thought process of how to do this is to aim the ship straight off to the side of the hole to miss it; keeping in mind, that speed and the correct path would be crucial to pull this off. Otherwise, whoever attempts this feat would be lost forever. However, if done precise, the spaceship would be pulled into orbit in just the right way. Stephen believes if speeds are kept at the correct and steady interval that the ship would then be safe, and the brave people on board would now be in a time warp of their own time being slowed down. As they would keep flying around, they would only be experiencing half the time to us here on Earth, which means time travel would be taking place. Hawking's beliefs are; if the crew circled five years, ten years would actually pass where we are. As his theory goes, when the crew returns, we here on Earth would have aged five years more than them. Therefore, they have returned to a future Earth.

Now, Einstein’s theory is based on speed as well, but it’s based on the speed of light instead of orbiting around the black hole at a certain flow of speed. Einstein’s theory is called “The Theory of Relativity.” So if someone was racing in a spaceship, but then someone else in a different spaceship came from behind with the lights on full beam, the initial spaceship would only see those lights and both people in the spaceships would be traveling at that lights speed, no matter if the primary spaceship is going faster. I guess you can say it’s all very relative. However, to me, it’s a little confusing, but extremely interesting.

There will constantly be different theories on time travel; physicists, and scientists alike, will continue to explore this interesting thought. I can say that, I do think Einstein’s and Hawking’s theories are on the right track. Think about it; As technology has increased, does it not now feel like we have sped up through life? Years get shorter; our life is moving faster than ever before. We barely have time to explore and experience. My theory of how speed changes time is through invention of technology. It has sped us up into a world of less time. What I can’t figure out is how time travel fits in with it. However, I have experienced deja-vu many times through the past five years. So much so, that I actually wonder when the next episode of it will come around again. It does feel like an unreal coincidence in time.

All the theories above are very interesting, and maybe the more logical way of viewing time travel. However, I still want to believe in the power of putting an old suit on from the era you want to visit, and then laying back and telling yourself you are in that place, at that time, over and over again until you get there. I want it to be just that simple. I’m referring to the way Christopher Reeves traveled to the past in the movie “Somewhere In Time” and if I got to travel through time, since I have expressed nostalgic feelings and reminiscent thoughts of the past, the past is where I would want to travel.

There are many different ways people have thought about time travel, and they make movies and shows of the way they see it in their minds; The Time Machine, Back to The Future, Star Trek. Television shows such as; Quantum Leap and Dr. Who. Time travel is and always will be one of the biggest fantasies for everyone, but as Hawking did say, it’s not really practical thinking. I think I agree with that. I suppose it might be something that could actually exist, but it’s been too much of a mind bender for even the smartest people to figure out.

Keeping with a nostalgic theme through time travel, I have written my poem with these two thoughts in mind. I’ve added some people I wish I could meet, and places I would like to visit. I hope you find my poem a captivating short tale set in poetic form.

Take me away to a portal

palace, and let me breathe

in scenes of nostalgia.

I want to wake up in a

peaceful era. Maybe meet

Rhett Butler and Scarlett

O’Hara.

Old Hollywood days, what

a dream; I wonder if I could

slip into a “Gone With The

Wind” scene?

Then I will jump back into

that mystic realm, where

I find myself off to another

distant land.

I open my eyes. I'm on a Wild

West wagon trail, seeing

mountains so high and

dodging Indian arrows.

I meet a dreamboat cowboy

who saves my life, then I

kiss him hard before I say

good-bye.

I don’t look back as he

yells, “Don’t Go” I’m

laughing out loud as I

leap back into the portal...

having the most fun blasting

off, causing confusion, and

a little chaos. But no harm

done as I come back around.

I’m sitting crossed legged

by Mahatma Gandhi himself.

A beautiful sunrise comes

up over the mountain. I

catch my breath. I feel I’m

in heaven.

Gandhi then tells me not to

let the sun that shines inside me

fade, my purpose on earth is

to be brave bursting rays.

I start to turn and take off

once more, but he grabs

my hand and puts it to his

heart.

And with the most generous

smile, I’ve ever seen, he tells

me never to forget where

his friendship will be.

The last thing I remember as

I turn to go, is beautiful

butterflies flying around.

I startle back up. I'm in my

bed; “that dream was so

Real” I tell myself.

As I’m about to get out

of bed to check on my

children, I think I can

feel something frantically

moving.

I throw the covers back, and

that’s when I see, a beautiful

butterfly that encircles me.