Past perfect
English:
It’s amazing how different history would be if we changed but a few facts. For instance, if Hitler had died before 1939, World War II would not have happened.
Yesterday, as I was reaching for my keys, I remembered I had left them at my dentist’s. If I hadn’t gone to the dentist, I wouldn’t have had left my keys and I would have been able to go to bed earlier. Had I gone earlier to bed, I wouldn’t have bought a train that had no engine. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I didn’t think of asking about the engine. No one told me the train had its engine removed a long time ago. So now I have a broken and useless train. Did you know that half the price of a train is just its engine? Well, now I know. Apparently those guys who sold me this piece of junk did not know that.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that history is very fragile. Who knows what outcomes will my buying this train have in the long run. Maybe I stopped or started a national railroad conflict.
Or perhaps I won’t mean anything in the large scheme of things. That’s what I like about history. It’s about looking things unfolding and contrasting them against what has happened in the past, and in turn contrast what has happened with what had happened prior to that. A fascinating subject to study.
Spanish:
Es increíble cómo podría variar la historia si cambiamos unos pocos detalles. Por ejemplo, si Hitler hubiera muerto antes de 1939, la segunda guerra mundial no hubiera ocurrido.
Ayer mientras buscaba mis llaves, recordé que las había dejado en lo de mi dentista. Si no hubiera ido al dentista, no hubiera dejado mis llaves y hubiera podido ir a dormir temprano. Si hubiera podido dormir temprano, no hubiera comprado un tren sin motor. Por desgracia, estaba tan agotado que ni pensé en preguntar acerca del motor. Nadie me dijo que le sacaron el motor al tren hacía tiempo. Por lo que ahora tengo un tren roto e inútil. ¿Sabías que la mitad del costo de un tren es solo el motor? Ahora lo sé. Aparentemente los tipos que me vendieron esta basura no lo sabían.
De cualquier forma, lo que quiero decir es que la historia es muy frágil. Quién sabe qué efectos tendrá mi compra del tren a largo plazo. Quizá detuvo o inicie un conflicto ferroviario nacional.
O quizá no signifique nada en el gran plan del universo. Eso es lo que me gusta de la historia. Es ver cómo se desarrollan las cosas y contrastarlas con lo que pasó en el pasado, y a su vez contrastar lo que pasó con lo que había pasado antes de eso. Un área de estudio fascinante.
