It was a bitterly cold winter's day that day. That day that I faced one of the most difficult decisions of my life. You see I was given a gift. God gave me a sort of ticket. He told me I could go back in time to change one event in history, but if I changed my mind I could always come back without changing anything. One historical event stuck out most in my mind. An event in history that was so horrible that some preferred to think that it never happened at all. I of course was thinking of the holocaust.
Sure the stigma that led to the whole thing was probably built up over several years, but would it have gained any traction if they had been robbed of such a strong and charismatic leader? Was it possible that by eliminating Hitler that perhaps the Holocaust could be avoided or was it doomed to happen anyway? Would taking his life not make a difference? Either way I felt I had to give it a shot.
I found myself in Austria on April 20, 1889. I could hear his cries coming from down the hallway of the hospital of which he was born. I don't know how I knew it was him, I just knew. I couldn't explain it. I somehow found myself able to understand the foreign language around me and I somehow wound up there dressed in appropriate attire. I waited for the doctor's to take the baby away while the mother rested and when they came out I carefully followed them to the nursery.
When I was sure the baby was alone I crept in. I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket with the intention of suffocating him. People would probably chalk it up to a baby mysteriously dying in his sleep. I walked over cautiously to where he lay sleeping.
I looked down and he looked so innocent laying in his hospital crib. He looked sweet and kind of cute. This baby had know idea the pain he was to cause so many. His parents didn't suspect the kind of hate their child would carry. They had hopes and dreams for him. Could I really deny them the right to try and raise him right? I just couldn't bring myself to smother him. He was only a baby and hadn't done anything yet. Who was I to judge him and condemn him for something he hadn't even done it. Instead I took a piece of small paper from my pocket and scribbled a note to his parents warning him of what he could become if special care was not taken.
I slept the note in with the baby. I then felt a cool breeze as I began to fade back to my time. For a few moments I saw the past and future at the same time. I saw the doctor walk in and see the paper. He read it and scoffed at it and threw it in the garbage. I tried to stop my return, but my time was up. I had the chance to avoid one of the biggest massacres in history and I wussed out. I felt as if the blood of those innocent people was on my hands now.
I then heard a small voice in the breeze as I fully returned to my time. It told me that I did what was right. It would have been wrong to kill a innocent baby. That the baby was presented with many chances to change and shunned them all. That such a thing happened broke his heart as well, but he gave us free will. He did not have control over the man's actions and he was with his chosen people in those times. He suffered with them and shed tears with them. He never meant for it to happen, but sometimes men choose the devil and turn him away. Although I realized there was never anything I could have done I still felt guilty and always would.
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