The Listening Post

You have ascended to a higher plane of existence. You have become energy and are incredibly powerful and very knowledgeable, though not omnipotent or omniscient. For you, it is complete bliss (heaven, nirvana, etc). The only rule you have to follow is non-interference with the lower planes - you are not allowed to play god. One day, however, you happen to see your family and/or friends in a situation where they will almost certainly die horrible deaths. You have to power to easily prevent it; however, if you do, you could change the future for the worse (i.e: one of your family/friend's descendents could become the next Hitler, etc.), and you would definitely lose your ascension. What would you do? Inspired by Stargate SG-1

That's a hard one. My gut reaction would probably be to prevent it (the whole losing your ascension thing would matter as much as saving your family/friends), but I've seen enough sci-fi shows to know I probably shouldn't mess with the future. Hmmm... why do I suddenly hear Austin Power's voice in my head yelling, 'Nerd Alert!'

I watched one of the new Twilight Zone episodes once where a woman (Katherine Heigl – I miss Roswell!) goes back in time to kill Hitler when he was just a wee baby, before he gets the chance to grow up and become a monster. She manages to run off with the baby and jump off a bridge, killing herself and the baby, thinking that her mission is complete. But it's not. The house maid, who the parents sent to chase after Kath and the baby, sees this happen and knows that she's in deep doo doo if she returns empty handed. Then she sees a homeless woman with a child and buys/steals (can't quite remember) the baby from her and brings that baby home. And that homeless woman's child was the baby that grows up to be Hitler! [insert booming 'Dum Dum DUUUUM!' music here]

So the woman going back in time didn't change history like she had hoped she would, she actually set in motion what had already taken place!

I could also cite a number of examples from Star Trek, but I won't. :) Bottom line is you have no idea what dominos you'll be knocking over if you interfere in the normal course of things. So I would let nature take its course, and hope that, in the long run, I was doing the right thing.