Timey Wimey Thoughts

 

It's bigger and all-inclusive on the inside!

I was watching Doctor Who tonight.

If you're not familiar with it, it's a beloved British science fiction show that debuted the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated -- Nov 23, 1963.

It's been on basically ever since (yes, there was a stretch from 1989-2005 when only a TV movie was produced).

In short, the Doctor is a time lord, aka a time traveler.

So, as I was watching the Doctor and Amy Pond and River Song and others in the Whovniverse, I found my brain returning to the age-old question of what time would you want to be transported to? If you could be born in any era when would it be?

My answer always seems to be around the 1920s. I'd want to experience the Jazz Age and the life of the Roaring 20s and, who are we kidding?

I want to see Ruth, Gehrig, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, and the other sports heroes. I could also see the blossoming of radio with the creation of NBC, CBS, etc.

But, let's be honest, I'd also see the ugly side, right?

I mean, history is messy, of course. We so often live in the past but, really, why? Yes, yes, yes, things were better "back in the day" but, really, were they?

Sometimes yes but history also clouds our view.

Many things are better now. Technology and so on.

But, let's go back to 1923 for a moment. Yankee Stadium opens that April and G.H. Ruth hits the first home run. The Bombers go on and win their first World Series, which is sort of broadcast on the radio.

But there's no TV to watch the Series.

Now, let's be more serious. Do we even need to discuss the color barrier in existence in 1923? The myriad social issues that existed? Women have only just been given the right to vote a few years earlier.

Sure, we can say we were a more respectful, hard-working society, which is often the trope of the "back in my day" types but, obviously, we weren't a free society otherwise. World War I had only ended five years earlier. To that end, the future isn't that rosy. The 20s remain fascinating but by late 1929, the Great Depression is firing up.

By the end of the 30s, we're on the fringe of a Second World War.

I mean, I think you get the idea. Baseball doesn't start letting Blacks join the major leagues until Jackie Robinson in 1947. The Civil Rights Act is still years away.

Look, this isn't some attempt to be woke and "clout chasing." There's enough of that and I see it all the time. But we have to be realistic.

While the fantastical idea of having been born and lived in a different era sounds great, it feels like we need to recognize both the good and bad.

Realistically? Yeah, I think I've existed at the right time.

And we still have a long way to go, especially given our utter hatred for each other and our inability to talk.

Maybe I should have been born in the future.

Maybe The Doctor can just take me there in the TARDIS.

Since none of this is real anyway.