While watching the new Frontline last night, one thought occurred to me: making the same mistakes. Time and time again, countries embroil themselves in affairs that lead to no triumph; only death, debt, and destruction. Take Afghanistan. If the policymakers of the United States looked back and read their history, they’d see the British and Russian empires tried to conquer the land and failed. And, the foreign policy around nation building, as we have clearly seen in Iraq, does not work.

We can take these examples and apply it to our own lives. Lessons learned. What if we were given the ability to think with wisdom and experience, right at the moment of our birth? We would forgo all those awkward years of mistakes and regrets. We would use the time reserved for learning about ourselves, to learn about the world. We would have the patience and the confidence of identity that emerges from a person who has lived a long life. Granted, not all people find that wisdom, but some do.

If this were possible, would we set aside our selfish agendas? Would we live in a better world if we sought simple agreement with others? Or, would the world suddenly become filled with billions of crotchety 80 year-olds?

I, for one, still find myself learning more about myself each and every day. I make mistakes, large and small. If I could suddenly become that person with an ultimate level of maturity, would I do it? I don’t know. Maybe experiencing that fumbling, idiotic journey of being human is the first step in finding wisdom. Maybe it’s the prerequisite.