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"What If?" This will make you think
I found this conversation posted on a forum a few years ago and pieced it together the best I could. It was something that really made me think about how a split second can change everything or how choosing a different direction in life changes the outcome.
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There are quite a few things that would be different in this world if history had taken a slightly different road.
What if Hitler actually knew how to paint and draw? What if he had gotten accepted to the University of Vienna? Maybe he would have become a famous artist and now his paintings would be hanging around in art museums, maybe even in the White House or the Windsor Castle.
Maybe his hate towards Jews and his obsession with the Third Reich would have never started. He would have never written Mein Kampf and the Nazi party would have become nothing more than a silly little tea party. And what if Hitler had fallen off that balcony?
Maybe Europe would have been spared a war. Maybe the world would have been spared the A-bomb, at least for a couple of years, maybe even decades. Think of all the cultural heritage, sculptures and paintings, castles, old buildings and even landscape that would still exist. But on the other hand, Western Europe would never have gotten the financial aid that the Marshall plan provided. Many of the railroads and roads built during the war, wouldn't have been built.
What if the Commando raid on the heavy water facility in Norway had failed; Hitler would have had nuclear weapons 6 months ahead of the U.S. Had Admiral Yamamoto been listened to, allowed to push on and capture the Hawaiian Islands, the war would have gone very differently for us.
How about if Japan had never attacked the United States? Would we have gotten involved in the war? Japan would probably be an aggressive Asian power, but would they have all the technology?
What about the Soviet Union? Would they have gotten rid of Stalin? Or would he have continued his deadly politics even longer? What about KGB? Maybe the Eastern European states would have escaped communism, poverty and the KGB.
The USA's desire to be the world's policeman would have never started. There would not have been a Korean War or a Vietnam War.
The U.N. would probably not exist. Isreal wouldn't exist, but would that mean that the Middle East would be peaceful? Maybe Osama Bin Laden would be sitting somewhere in the desert counting sheep tonight. And Al-Qaida? Never heard of it.
What about capitalism, where would we be? The '80s and the crack at the stock exchange. The World Trade Center, would it even have been built?
What if Christopher Columbus had sailed farther south?
Ponder 'what if' the plague had wiped out 99% of the European population.
Had Napoleon not pushed his army beyond its support and supply lines into Russia...all of European history would be unrecognizable. One decision, one thought put forward at the right time, and all of history is irrevocably changed.
It shows how a split second or a second, even a minute can change the course of all the events that follow. If you decide to take the shortcut to work, and get into an accident, that is a decision that will change your life and the lives of those around you. Forever.
What if Jonas Salk had never bothered to try to cure polio?
What if Charles Lindbergh had decided to get into land speed records instead? It shows that every event in history is affected by one single decision by one single person.
History has shown us that small things are important. History is our tutor, but without vision, we would not accomplish very much. Every single man or woman is important and can make history. You don't need to be a celebrity or a politician. In fact, more often than not, it is the little guy that is responsible for change.
Everyone in this world has the power to change the way of the world. Almost every great human advancement started with one person sitting alone, wondering, "what if?" That's all 'what if' is; a dream or vision that one chooses to follow.
Choose left...choose right...what you choose, can change a lot.
Wow. And some people still say that their lives aren't important. That one person could never change anything.
Well, what if Hitler could really draw and paint? What if the guy at the University in Vienna had liked what he saw? What if?
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