sometime in 1999 . . .
temporal responsibility
I was at home, looking through department store ads in a newspaper.
there were some shoes that I liked at one of the stores, and I decided to buy them at some point.
I was scheduled to be at work at 4PM, and had some time still before I had to leave. I didn't really do anything that I remember, other than turning on and off a few new lamps in the house, but I managed to stall until I was going to be late.
I looked out into the driveway, but there were no cars home, and I wondered how I was going to get to work.
somehow, I managed to get a ride halfway from someone driving a van. the geography had changed, and it turned out that I would have to walk quite a long way along a busy street lined by trees with ditches on either side.
I walked along a ditch, walking over tree stumps in my path. a guy about my age who was from Europe was walking with me at some point. he told me that if I looked around on the ground, I could find good things. as he explained this, he showed me by picking up a still-wrapped wooden spoon from Norway.
I then found myself in a fast food restaurant. I was still late for work, but I was eating lunch with a few of my co-workers. It was a cafeteria-style restaurant, and I ended up getting a hamburger. I asked how much chicken cost, and a server informed me that it came free with my hamburger.
possibly back at home, I was became aware that I was now several hours late for work. I ran out the door and down the street. despite knowing that I was not in very good physical shape, I felt full of energy. but then I began to grow slower. Not tired, but simply unable to move as quickly.
back in the restaurant, I was still late, but somehow time had reset--I was not as late as before. I had somehow unconsciously caused this reversal of time.
the same co-workers were there, unaware that this scene had taken place before. I was the only one with memory of the former time stream.
furthermore, I was not hungry this time, having eaten a lot the first time I was in the restaurant. the reversal happened a second time, and I was back at home. there I was given another large hamburger. it normally would have been very good, but I had already eaten twice, and eating this one made me begin to feel sick. but I didn't want to waste it.
thinking back on the restaurant scene, I pondered on the question of whether I was morally responsible for my actions in a time stream which would later become void.
it seemed that once the cancellation had occured, the former experiences existed only inside my mind. I wondered whether, if I had done anything bad, I would have been right feeling moral responsibility for my actions. I decided that the answer was yes, since in a sense everything in normal life is that way--the temporal circumstances under which people act do not last, all that is left are the actors and the impanct that the interactions have had on them.
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