Filmmaker Jeremiah McDonald Chats with his 12 Year Old Self

Uploaded on July 5th 2012, the Conversation received over 2m hits within the first twenty-four hours.

As media all over the internet picked up the story (including, we should acknowledge, Wizzley), the surge of hits shows no sign of abating.

It isn't difficult to work out why.  Who amongst us hasn't day-dreamed of having a conversation with our younger selves, at some time in our lives?  Not to mention the deliciousness of the whole time travel idea.

This universal longing is what makes shows like Dr Who so popular in the first place.  This is like The Five Doctors happening to an ordinary man.

Ok, so it's make-believe. It's not a real conversation between 12 and 32 year old Jeremiah McDonald.  But it sounds like it is, and that is quite wonderful.

Nevertheless, some have already found cause to complain.  That's the flip side of the human condition. Give someone an ounce of fame and potential fortune, and you can set your clock by the time it takes the envious to start moaning about them.

Within hours of the Conversation going live, a response was already being posted calling Jeremiah a fake.  It's a staged piece of theater, using a child actor, claims ThatAngryAsianGuy.

I somehow feel that he was missing the point.

When I was 12, I wanted to be a writer and an Amnesty International activist. I also wanted Margaret Thatcher to no longer be prime minister.

Fast forwards to the modern day.  Looks around.  Result! 

Ok, I've been a little selective in what I remember dreaming back then. The reality would have had far too much Duran Duran in it.

Then again, Jeremiah was probably also a little selective in how he edited his old home videos. So we're quits there!

The point, as far as I see it, is that the Conversation makes us stop and take stock. Twelve is such a wonderful age (in hindsight; in reality, it was full of the rigors and petty cruelties of puberty and school). Your whole future is ahead of you and anything that you want to be is there for the achieving. Dreams get dreamed in full expectation that they can be made real.

Twenty years on, we are much more jaded. It feels like your groove is set for life and it's not worth making any better plans.  (Despite the fact that life expectancy in the West means that you aren't even halfway there yet.)

It does us good to sit back and have our own conversations with our inner twelve year old.  Then hopefully give ourselves the requisite kick in the rear and get on with the dreaming again.

Though I obviously still reserve the option not to marry all of Duran Duran.