This particular concept of time travel is always an area filled with so much dilemma because of the endless question of, "would what I have done better than what was done then?" and "would doing that singular thing or avoiding that singular catastrophe from happening prevented endless of further catastrophes that happened after the one you prevented?"
But well, for the purpose of the prompt, I will live in this imaginative world of mine for a while.
I am a Nigerian, hence, if I had chance to time travel, I would focus on changing a historical happening in my country and what I would undoubtedly want to change was the 1966 Military Coup led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and subsequent counter coups.*
I feel this was where it all started going downhill... This is because this was what laid foundation for the political instability, civil war (Biafran war from 1967-1970) and the ethnic hates that we still suffer till today hindering our progress as a unified country.
I wouldn't even dare to talk about the direct impact the civil war had on us as a country because that will be an endless discussion... It really was a painful one which cost us more than we can ever recover, claiming many lives and opening gateway for many other vices.
Of course it's arguable that if we have prevented those coups that we would have been better off today with better functioning democracy which might have avoided the corruption and economic mismanagement that followed, but I guess, we will never know.
What We May Have Benefited If I Change It
- Political Stability:
Like I said, these coup brought about the political instability we suffer even today because it brought a lot of military regime in the country distorting the democracy political structure we practice.
This might have been avoided.
- Economic Growth:
It's no mystery our economy plummeted because if there's anything war affects the most it's economy as the citizens won't even be doing any production of any kind.
This also might have been avoided.
- Ethnic Harmony:
Above all, this would have been better today since everyone will still see one another as that one countryman and not the endless tribalism going on that clouds our judgement even until this day.
Having all these would have made us a stronger country in the world's rating than we are now.
However, What guarantee do we have that changing this particular historical event from happening would have brought us farther than we are today? No one knows because just like the butterfly effect will always let us know, ***"Every action has unforseen consequences". ***
Solving a particular problem doesn't guarantee that one bigger than the one you solved wouldn't ensue.
Personally, if I could time travel after considering all these things, I might be reluctant to change anything because of the unforeseen consequences - what if I make Nigeria worse than it is today?
Nigerian history isn't just full of tragedy, behind those tragic moments also lies resilience, perseverance, ingenuity and growth and I wouldn't be willing to take that away from the story that comes with the country, of course, because of the profound uncertainty.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day 👍
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