The What-If Express

One of the Animation Series I love watching is Veggie Tales. It is about limbless fruits and vegetables retelling Bible stories and life lessons. If you are not into Bible stories and life lessons, you will still love it for the silly songs, interesting plots and humor filled dialogues. I recently watched an episode titled “It’s a Meaningful Life”. It is a Christmas themed story focusing on Stewart (Larry the Cucumber). Stewart is happy with his life but a thought always troubles his mind as to what a better life it could have been only if he had caught a football in his past. And then he gets a ticket to the What-If Express.  What-If Express is a train which shows you how life could have been if it had taken a different route – in the case of Stewart if he had caught the football. At the end of the train journey, Stewart must decide – stick to the life he already has or shift to the version which he regrets not having. Unsurprisingly – based on what he sees in his simulated What-If life - Stewart chooses his current life.

 Why?

 We all go through phases in life where we feel that life could have been much better only if we had taken a different decision or only if someone else had done something different or only if things had worked out differently in some way. Most often this decision or circumstance would be way back in the past. When we sulk and think about how great and awesome our life could have been only if things happened differently in the past, then it is time to get a Golden ticket to the What-If Express ourselves. What if you had taken a different decision. What if someone else acted differently. What if the circumstances were different.

 In the parallel track of our What-If life, we will find that the situations we face will be different. The people in our life would be different. The same people who behave one way in one track will behave differently in the other track. As the train moves on, we will realize that the What-If life is not that great. In fact, in most cases it would be much worse.

 By thinking about the infinite possibilities our life could have turned out to be, we miss out on the finer aspects of our current life. We miss out on our current happiness by focusing on our What-If happiness. We miss out on our current relationships by focusing on our What-If relationships. We miss the joy of paving our way through our current career by focusing on our What-If career. As Stewart realizes at the end of his journey, instead of sulking about our What-If life, it is better to enjoy the life we live and be grateful. It is a meaningful life – just the way it is.

 Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”