Random Sampler
It's a Wonderful Time

by F. James Mohl

As I write this, the holiday season is just coming to an end. By the time you read this, the bills will be coming due. So this article is : little like a time capsule. It reflects my state of mind at a point in time I call the "present" but which you think of as the "past." I an writing for the "future," which is your "present." If I am to engage your interest, my writing must be timely (for you), which means it can’t be too timely from my perspective. Of course every writer faces the same problem in varying degrees; and in a larger sense, everything we do is an attempt to alter the future, hopefully for the better.

These musings about time were triggered by two timeless, classic films I saw again this year, for the umpteenth time: A Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life. Have you ever wondered what makes them timeless? Certainly they have excellent scripts and outstanding actors we expect to find in any great film. But they have something more: a sense of universality, a feeling that they could be set in any time or any place to equal effect. That’s surprising when you think about it, because Dickens’ Scrooge is quintessentially Victorian while Capra’s George Bailey is very much a product of post-war America. It’s hard to imagine Bailey in Dickens’time. Moreover, even though some have suggested It’s a Wonderful Life could be called "An American Christmas Carol," the differences outweigh the similarities. (If Capra merely wanted to update the original, wouldn’t it have made more sense for the Scrooge-like Mr. Potter to find redemption instead of George Bailey, the 20th century version of Bob Cratchit?)

So if the characters aren’t universal, what is? The plot? Well, yes and no. Certainly the theme of redemption is universal. But what sets these stories apart from so many others is the way redemption is achieved. In each case the lead character achieves wisdom by stepping outside the nomml space-time continuum!

Scrooge is able to view his past, while retaining full knowledge of the pre-sent. He knows the results of his choices, even as he sees himself making them. Then he travels through space to see how his current choices impact others in the present, which those very choices prevented him from doing in "real time." And finally he travels to the future, to see the ultimate outcome. Remember when he cries out to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: "0 Spirit, tell me these are not the shadows of things that must be, but merely shades of things that might be! What is the point of showing them to me if they cannot be changed?" His redemption is achieved through seeing that choices have consequences. How clear it is when you can see both the choice and the consequence simultaneously!

George Bailey’s time travel is slightly different. He sees a world that never was, a world without him, an alternate universe. He too sees the consequences of his actions, only this time it is by the absence of those actions. As Clarence says, "Strange, isn’t it, George? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, it leaves an awful hole."

Here then is what I think makes these two films timeless: it is the realization that time itself can be transcended, that it is possible "to live in the past, present, and the future" simultaneously- to live each moment as if you were about to create an alternate, reality, a new timeline to a new and better future. And you don’t need ghosts or angels to do it. Of course no one can foresee the consequences of one’s actions with certainty. And the more complex the system, the more likely it is that there will be unintended consequences. But this is precisely where actuaries should have an advantage over most people. We are trained to think probabilistically and to credibility-weight a wide variety of possible outcomes in our professional lives. Why can't those same tools by applied to our personal lives? Indeed, isn't the distinction between "professional" and "personal" artificial?

Without the ability to "fore-see" the future, how can we even hope to get to where we want to be?

I suggest a new way of thinking about the future. Instead of starting from where you are and "crystal-ball-gazing" into the future, assume you have already arrived at the futyre you desire. See it, feel it, know it, live it. Now gaze backwards along the timeline, to see what choices you and others had to make to get there. It's always easier to see cause-and-effect relationships looking back in time than it is going forward. That will give you a road map to your future. And if you take a wrong turn along the way, it should help get you back on track.

You have an infinite number of possible futures in front of you. You can let random chance choose your future for you. Worse yet, you can let other people choose for you. Or, like Ebenezer Scrooge, you can take charge of you own destiny. And like George Bailey, you can choose to live again.

Happy New Year, and I'll be seeing you in the future!

F. James Mohl, FCAS, likes watching classic films when he's not working at the Scottsdale Insurance Company in Arizona.