If you could travel back in time....(Inspired by Cyrus's thread)

There was a Star Trek TNG episode where Picard is wounded and dies on the operating table and he meets Q who gives him a chance to go back and undo the part of his earlier life where he ends up getting an artificial heart (the direct result of his death on the table). He does and finds out that without that experience, he lives a dreary life as a lowly LT who never amounts to anything. He begs Q to let him put things back the way they were - even if it means he dies for good on the table - which doesn't happen of course.

Later when he's explaining that experience to Ricker, he makes a very profound statement which always stuck with me.

"There are many things I'm not proud of from my youth .. certain 'loose threads' that I thought I'd like to be rid of .. but when I pulled on one of those threads, I found that it unraveled the tapestry of my life."

As a couple of people have stated, we are the sum of our experiences and who we are today is a direct result of them - both good and bad.
I often state - we never learn anything by doing it right. Mistakes are essential if we are to grow - painful as they can be. It's hard to not "what if" yourself at times, but if you can gleam that little bit of wisdom from a bad experience - I truly believe you end up better in the long run.

 

Well said Mars.

I have had this thought with regards to my childhood many times and in the end, I wouldn't go back and "fix it" as it would change who I am today (even if I couldn't come back).

My first response was; I'd go back in time and break the machine so no one could go back in time.

 

If I were to go back in time I would of never went 3yrs in college to find out that I didn't like what major i was going into. Would of saved me tons of money that I have to pay.