PERSONAL MESSAGES TO SEND BACK IN TIME
GERARD O'NEIL
Last updated 05:00
17/02/2015
UNINTENDED MEANINGS: Sometimes a delayed message can take on a whole new
significance.
In an age of instant communication, where we expect immediate replies to
our emails or comments within minutes of our latest Facebook post, we are
surprised when delays occur.
Last week, a client arrived a few minutes late for a meeting. What
surprised me was that he had not sent a WhatsApp advising me of his delay. Even
though this was totally out of character, when he did eventually arrive I did
not comment.
Exactly 24 hours later, I received a WhatsApp from the client in
question advising that due to heavy traffic he would be delayed.
Initially I was confused, as we did not have a meeting marked for that
hour nor was it possible as I had another appointment. I then noticed the
message had been sent before our meeting the previous day. His message had been
travelling through cyberspace for more than 24 hours.
Sometimes delayed messages can take on a whole new significance.
I once attended the funeral of a 19-year-old girl. A week previously she
had moved to another city to begin her university course but had been knocked
off her scooter by a car and died as a result of her injuries.
When the minister got up at the funeral to say a few words he said:
“Something very strange and beautiful has happened. I had prepared a sermon
about Paula’s life but just before her parents left home this morning the mail
arrived. There was a letter from Paula which she had posted shortly before her
accident. The family has asked me to read it aloud.”
The letter began by describing how happy Paula was, and then went on to
thank her parents for all the love and support they had given her during her
life. She spoke about how much she was already missing her family and friends
and how she was looking forward to the holidays when everyone would be
reunited.
She concluded by telling her parents how much she loved them. When the
minister finished reading there was stunned silence. Nothing more needed to be
said.
At times a message can arrive long after it was sent.
A number of years ago I worked in a post office distribution centre. One
day, some workmen came to replace the large driving motor of a conveyer which
had been transporting correspondence for many years.
After they had broken open the concrete floor and winched the motor up,
one of my colleagues spotted a letter in the hole. After she had fished it out,
she read the postmark. It had been there for 25 years!
Unsure what to do with it; she simply added it to the thousands of
letters whizzing by on the conveyor beside her.
A few days later the front page headline in a mass circulation newspaper
read: “Letter arrives 25 years late!”
The story was about a letter which had been posted from a mother to her
son at boarding school. As the boarding school had the old boy’s current
address they had forwarded it on to him.
The newspaper article outlined how surprised the son had been to have
received the letter so many years late. In it his mother had written a list of
things he should be doing in preparation for his school certificate exams the
following week.
It finished by telling him not to worry if he failed his exams as no
matter what happened his parents would continue to love him.
The son, in fact, had passed all six subjects but the advice his mother
had given him was still valid for his daughter who was getting ready to sit her
school certificate exams at the time.
On occasions, a message can arrive generations later.
I was once helping to demolish an old house, when I pulled two nailed
roof beams apart. To my surprise on the inside face hidden to the world, I
found a message that read: “If you are reading this it means you are
demolishing the house we are currently building.”
Five names were listed and the date - 1928.
Imagine, instead of messages travelling forward in time, it was possible
for them to travel backwards as well. I recently asked some friends and colleagues
this question: If you could send a message back in time to yourself to arrive
10 years ago, what would you say?
Here are some of their responses:
1) Don’t
worry about your current income; in the future you will earn a lot more.
2) Spend more time with your younger sister as she will be dead in four
years.
3) Buy shares in company X!
4) Don’t abandon those projects you are working on. They would have been
successful.
5) Stop stressing over your mortgage repayments. You will change your job,
earn much more and be mortgage free in eight years instead of 20.
6) Do not marry her!
7) If you think your new mobile phone is cool, you haven’t seen anything
yet!
8) No matter what others are saying, you are on the right course.
If you could send a message back to yourself, arriving 10 years ago,
what would it be?
TO PRINT
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