Zach Polka

Is it worth trading everything you’ve earned for a second chance? From corners of the South to pockets in the North, people debate whether their choices have led them to a life of prominence. All that we do premises a future event—and that event is decided by our decisions today.

I’m a senior journalism student in my last semester, and this makes me think of all the decisions I’ve made in the past that have led me to this moment—one in which I’m about to graduate from an expensive private school, completely loan-free.

Did I set this course in action from the time I was born, or did my steps in life bring me to this outcome? Rhetorically, the answer doesn’t present itself. I’m torn when thinking about it.

Did the bunny who takes a left instead of a right at Albuquerque and who ends up lost in the desert fighting a Muslim king, take that turn by chance or by fate? If he had gone left, where would he be?

I’d like to think that all of our decisions are made with free will, although some would argue that regardless of the turn you take, you would still end up in the desert.

After six long years, I’ve ended up on the cusp of graduating, and I feel if I did take a different turn—if I didn’t go into the Army, if I didn’t find the love of my life, if I didn’t have a child—I’d be somewhere else with other things happening, and I might not be on the verge of graduating with a four-year degree.

Others say predestination can be altered; if a person changes one thing about his or her past, it can radically change the course of the present and future. A single drop of a flower petal can turn the tides of the ocean. Is this metaphorical philosophy or is this actual truth?

I’m not going to debate this to decipher a yes or no. I’m merely going to say that all things are dependent on other things and this boils down to our decisions. People have yearned for a chance to start over. Have you ever said, “If I knew then what I know now, would things really be different?”

At some point in everyone’s life, they say something along those lines. But I’m not convinced people would be happy. If all we know now was somehow known in childhood, it makes sense to say we’d be in different positions in adulthood. If I knew I was going to get into a car accident the first night I met my true love, I don’t know if I’d take that drive. Because who’s to say we’d know all we know now. It’s documented that the attention span of a person in his early 20s lasts 15 minutes. There’s no way to say we’d be able to remember everything.

Since our memories tie to our attention span, remembering everything is impossible, or at least improbable. So, getting back to my accident, let’s say I only knew I’d get into an accident on my way to Wal-Mart, where I met my love. I’d have no recollection of meeting Misty, so I’d only know I was going to get into an accident on 14th Street going south. Knowing that, I wouldn’t turn onto 14th Steet from McKinley; I’d take Army Post Road to 14th Street to get there. With that extra time, I wouldn’t have been in the same spot, looking at the same thing and turning at the exact moment to see Misty dropping a bar of Suave soap, the moment when we started talking.

If you agree with folks that say we are fate, then I’d see her anyway. But what if I didn’t even go? Maybe I’d think the trip to pick up Lays potato chips, a six-pack of cola and Herbal Essences shampoo wasn’t even worth the chance of a predestined accident, so I stay home. This is the debate we deal with.

If we are predestined to end up in the same spot, at the same time and with the same conclusion, then is a second chance even worth the time? Where would you be if you had the ever-longed-for second chance?\