If...

If I were allergic to wool, what would my wardrobe look like? Would a Watcher be an authority figure if he were clad in cotton jeans and a tee shirt? Searching my memory it seems I did appear before Buffy wearing just that outfit, and as I remember, it engendered a distinct lack of respect.

You, no doubt, were looking for some more profound, or at least more introspective, musings. Well, things would have been different if...well, any number of things. Looking at the past through an “if” perspective is worse than useless; it can poison your present.

One must be cautious using “if” even for the future. An experienced person knows “if” they do a certain action it will lead to a likely result. Perhaps they’ve been down that path before. Love, falling in love, is the example that springs to mind. Who has not had love end in heartbreak, of one sort or the other? It may seem to be wise to make that sorrow outweigh any happiness, to say “if I allow myself to love this person, it will end badly”. But is life about wisdom, or involvement?

Better to save your “ifs” for more mundane matters, such as, if I drink coffee after eight in the evening, I shalln’t be able to sleep.