Tuesday, May 03, 2011

No Re-do

I like speculative fiction. I like to sit around and speculate. One thing I've given some thought to: a re-do. Essentially this is the ol' time travel conundrum.

There are things said and done in my past which I really wish had gone otherwise. One was my last conversation with my dad. Another was not performing a play with my 4yr old yesterday when he asked.

Other screw ups, however, might be better left as-is.

Example: If I'd not laid out, flunked out, and dropped out before getting my wiring in order, I would never have been as sensitive and considerate of struggling students. I would always have wondered if I should have become a computer tech (dropped out).

Example: If I'd never gone back home to attempt to run the family business, I'd always wonder if I should have done it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. As it turned out, I learned you can never go back home, exactly. I also learned I'm the last man alive you'd ever want to run your accounting business.

Example: If I'd not be so consumed with my volunteer job, AmeriCorps and the like, [a screw up only because it did not leave me with anything of a life of my own for the better part of ten years] I'd never have met my wife, and that sets in motion a whole tailspin of things that woulda never.


I think, maybe, that every misstep is a good move maybe, so long as we are attentive to the dance.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have found that life can never be a regret, no matter how bad things seem. I, for instance, have done things I wish I hadn't (lots of people got hurt) but in turn, have become wiser for it and have tried to be a warning label for others in similar situations. We can never rewind time, though sometimes I wish it was possible, just to see what would have changed.
Words to ponder . . .