It is “Pretend You Are a Time Traveler Day!”  What an odd concept for a holiday, right?  Well, actually… maybe it isn’t so odd.  In sundry, subtle, indirect, and idealistic ways, the Big-Brained Bipeds of Planet Earth often pretend to be time-travelers.  I dare say we could even say, “EVERY day is Pretend You Are a Time Traveler Day!”  In fact, one common American conundrum, usually circulated orally, is the hypothetical question, “If you had a time machine, would you travel to before the rise of the Third Reich and kill Hitler?”  I remember hearing this conundrum first from a friend way back in high school, late in the last millennium.  More recently, a deleted scene from the movie Deadpool II is viewable on Youtube.  In this deleted scene, the anti-hero title character travels back in time and finds baby Hitler, intending to kill him.  But then, the suddenly sensitive Deadpool cannot muster the gumption to commit infanticide.  And thus, the Marvel fans are left with the conundrum; did Deadpool’s decision to spare Hitler lead to World War II and the Holocaust?  It’s a good thing they deleted the scene, ain’t it?    

This "would you preemptively kill Hitler if you could" conundrum is a kind of thought-experiment to provoke us to sometimes be mindful of the whithers, whys and wherefores of the world.  The famous “Trolley Problem” is another such conundrum, as is the familiar “If a Tree Falls in the Woods and No Ears Hear It” hypothetical scenario.  The “Trolley Problem” compels us to really delve into the question, “Are some lives worth more than others?”  As for the hypothetical scenario of the unheard timber tumble in the woods, it compels us to ponder how important a phenomenon is if no one senses it. Notably, the "would you preemptively kill Hitler if you could" conundrum compels reflection similar to both scenarios, both the Trolley and the Fallen Tree Scenario. To be specific, it raises up one important question for consideration, “Would you work to save the life of a fellow human being whom you do not know?”  

Actually, the question is more complicated.  The time-traveler deliberating over whether to murder little Adolf is contemplating a deed that, at best, will only save people indirectly.  It’s not like people are getting pulled off of railroad cars or escorted away from bombed cities.  The idea is that killing little Adolf might prevent World War II, and thus all the soldiers and civilians who died in that war will be spared.  Furthermore, if it even must be said, all the Jews, disabled people, Romani, Freemasons, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other groups targeted by the Third Reich could be spared if we cut off the head of the snake…or rather, if we smash the snake egg before it hatches. However, as noted, the rescuing wrought through the infanticide of Hitler could only save people indirectly - save them by stopping a war and a genocide that could kill them.  Furthermore, at best, the assassination of little Adolf could only possibly save these victims – because we don’t really know that killing Hitler would stop all the atrocities of Nazism.  So; the question that the time-traveling assassin scenario presents us with is, “Would you radically act in order to possibly, indirectly save human beings you do not know?”    

The Eclipse Escapade concerns a certain event in the future of Western New Yorkers, the total solar eclipse that will grace our skies on April 8 2024.  Furthermore, we can look back in time to remember a previous total solar eclipse, a total solar eclipse that was relatively recent, as these astronomical events are generally so rare.  It was in 2017. The fact that we can look behind to the last total solar eclipse, and look ahead to the next, means that we can, albeit just mentally, be time-travelers.  And the question confronts us, “Will we radically act to possibly, indirectly save human beings we do not know?”  

Will we open our homes to make a place for a stranger who wants to enjoy the most ethereal spectacle the physics of our solar system presents, a spectacle that can change one’s entire outlook on life?  Will we create a place for a wayfarer to stay off the street during rush hour after the eclipse ends, so that he or she could avoid hours and hours of tedium in traffic?  Will we mitigate the potential traffic congestion an exodus of eclipse tourists from Western New York might create, the traffic jam of the millennium, a traffic jam that could prevent emergency vehicles from getting through on a day when most of our community will be outside, a day when there will be darkness at midday for three minutes and forty-six seconds?  

Would you radically act to possibly, indirectly save a human being you do not know?