[ WP ] As time travelers , 2 % of your job is to try and change the past to make a better future . The other 98 % is making sure you did n't fuck up doing so .

Slightly different take. But it's about changing the future, so here goes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 People often wonder why horrible things happen to good people. They dream of going back in time and killing Hitler. Of changing one thing and altering the entire future. I can. I have. I do. And I will. 
 
 It's not that easy. Let's take the common example and kill Hitler. When do you kill him? As a child? After his rise? The events of World War I and the ruinous Treaty of Versailles virtually guaranteed the rise of a fascist regime and a new world war. There were five possible leaders who were going to cause that rise. What if I told you Hitler was the best choice? The other four were far worse options. One led to the outright end of humanity by 1964. He died at age 12 when he tripped on a stick and hit his head. It was pine. I got sap on my gloves. 
 
 Still, Hitler was the best option? Yes. 6 million Jews and four million other assorted minorities, millions of other related deaths. The best choice. You ca n't see that. I can. Every possible outcome. A democratic Germany. The end of monarchies and empires. A Jewish state. The birth of a boy child in Jerusalem in 2073. 
 
 I do n't have to kill a Hitler. I never have to pull a gun or knife. I can end countries and empires with a stick on a path. A conversation in a dockside bar sends three wood boats to a new land. A compliment in the morning to a young man gives him the confidence to introduce himself to a young lady in the afternoon. In two hundred years, a great grand child eight times removed will be born from that meeting. And he will save me. 
 
 So many of you born because I wanted you here. So many of you here because I need you. Your loves, lives, deaths. Humanity needs you. I've been guiding you since before the rise of the first human city. The lightest touches I can to shape a brilliant future for humanity. These days it's called the Butterfly Effect. 
 
 This is penance. A way to repay for a terrible crime. Sentenced to walk the Earth forevermore, a fugitive and vagabond. I'm no Butterfly, my name is Cain. 
 

