Taking Tea in the Kasbah



In the last edition of Would You Rather Wednesday, I asked which mythical creature you would prefer to become – a centaur or a mermaid/merman? At last tally, the mermaids slightly edged out the centaurs. Of the many compelling arguments for the mermaid/merman, the one that stands out the most to me was being able to rock a bikini and have lustrous, flowing hair. What’s not to love about that?

On the side of the centaurs, I really appreciated hearing about how one could roam about freely without fear of falling off a horse. Horseback riding at its easiest and best. A great combo deal, if you ask me. This particular reasoning is what sold me on the centaur.

And now, on to this week’s question:

If you were given a mighty, all-powerful remote control with only one button on it that affected the entire world, would you rather

have exclusive use of the Pause button (to make minor adjustments to something about to happen in the world)

photo credit: jovike via photopin cc

photo credit: jovike via photopin cc

– OR –

have exclusive use of the Rewind button (to undo something that was very recently done in the world)?

photo credit: jovike via photopin cc

photo credit: jovike via photopin cc

***

Come hither, fine readers, and share your thoughts. Will you side with Pause button, choosing to have the power to pause the world so minor adjustments could be made? Or will you choose the Rewind button so you can have a hand in undoing something that was just done? Sit, sip, and share. I always love it when you do.

22 thoughts on “Wednesday’s Would You Rather Question: Pause vs. Rewind

  1. I’m going to go with pause. See, we often watch TV shows on the On Demand channel on our cable service. and while we’re watching, we’ll sometimes pause the show so one of us can run out and, like, get a dish of icecream or whatever. We rarely rewind to see something over again. So using that (admittedly sketchy) logic, I’d go with the pause button. 🙂

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      A pause button would be very handy for dashing off to get some ice cream. Or chocolate. Or wine. 🙂

  2. oooh, is that a new like button?
    I’m going with PAUSE too, because a) I don’t believe in regrets or do-overs; everything serves its purpose as a learning experience; and b) I do like to have the opportunity to pause to contemplate the correct course of action, to weigh all the options, so to speak.

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      Why yes, it is a new like button. I just installed it. And then messed some things up and had to have Laird fix them for me. And now all is well again in the kasbah.

      Pausing to contemplate and weigh consequences as well as options are excellent points in favor of the pause button. There have been many a time when I wished I could pause time to think things through before acting or speaking.

  3. I’ll choose Rewind. Sometimes, it’s too dang hard to fix a mess. A do-over is much easier.

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      Agreed. Sometimes, a do-over is just the ticket. Oh, the things I would fix with that button…

  4. I’m thinking rewind — but WAIT! Hold-it! I need a minute to recalculate my answer. (Does this count as a pause?) Oh shoot, now I’m really confused 🙁

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      I’m gonna put you down for rewind. Unless you chime in again and change your answer after you’ve had a moment to pause. 😉

  5. While the thought of doing something over is tempting, I think I’d prefer to hit the pause button. Take a deep breath. Ask yourself “Is that really a good decision?” Too often people, as well as countries, act on impulse. They’re afraid to lose face if they admit they were wrong. Think before you act.

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      Taking a deep breath is just like a pause, isn’t it? And I totally agree – think before you act. Or speak.

  6. I choose pause, as well. Rewind takes me into ‘Back to the Future’ mode and I don’t want to be responsible for making Michael J. Fox disappear 🙂

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      Gee, I hadn’t considered that the rewind button has the potential to eliminate Michael J. Fox! Well, that simply can’t be allowed. I so adored him in Family Ties. The 80’s wouldn’t be the same with out him.

  7. If the REWIND button came with a DeLorean (a la Back to the Future [though I’d promise NOT to make Michael J. Fox disappear, Kim]), I might be tempted with the “do over” option. But fancy car aside, I’ll choose PAUSE. I think we should learn from the mistakes of the past. However, being able to PAUSE the present would help prevent repeating those mistakes due to decisions made under duress.

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      I’m not sure if the rewind button comes with a DeLorean. I’ll have to consult the 13 y.o. since she gave me this week’s question to use in the kasbah.

      DeLoreans aside, the pause button would be incredibly useful in preventing repeat mistakes. Knowing me, I’d be pausing the world several times a day. It might slow down my decision making process as well as mess with people’s minds since the world would be paused with alarming frequency. I wonder how many times you could pause it before someone caught on and called you on it? 😉

  8. Pause. No doubt about this one. Cats once out of a bag are incredibly difficult to stuff back in said bag. So, pause, take a nap, eat something good, and then go about fixing what needs to be fixed. Plus, I think there is some Einsteinian theory that says we can only travel forward in time, not back…but then how would he know? Did he have a hot tub time machine? Think about that for minute.

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      Did Einstein have a hot tub time machine? I don’t know, but that’s an excellent question. So, if our buddy Albert says we can only go forward, pause button would be logical choice. Like you said, you can’t un-ring a bell. What’s out there is out there. FOREVER. [said in a booming, science-fiction-y type voice]

      BUT…
      What if you could go back in time to un-do some stuff, like, say, that time you wore those acid-washed jeans and cuffed them tightly at the bottom or when you crimped your hair for your senior photo or when Karma Chameleon came on the radio and you didn’t change the station fast enough and then THE SONG WAS STUCK IN YOUR HEAD FOR DAYS AND DAYS? Would you do it?

      Me? I think I’d have to use the pause button to think about it first…

  9. At first, I was going to jump at REWIND. But then, I PAUSED and thought about it. Even if I did REWIND, what would I change? What a massive responsibility that would be. As Elizabeth said, we learn from the mistakes of the past. Maybe we need some mistakes to learn from. Otherwise we would be continually EDITTING reality. We’d never PUBLISH the World.
    So put me down for REWIND.

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      I also believe (as you and several others have previously said) that mistakes are important learning tools and I wouldn’t want to see them disappear. Terminal editing would be torturous! I would, however, like to have a way to keep the same mistakes from being made over and over.

  10. on ,
    Marcia said:

    I’m with Brinda on pushing the Rewind button for a total do-over!

    • on ,
      Tami Clayton said:

      I bet you and I could think of many things from this week at work over which we’d push that rewind button. 🙂

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