I read an interesting online discussion forum on a fascinating topic .. one we don't
deal with very often,or perhaps ignore totally. Bit it challenged me nonetheless.
Here was the question .. if you were to die tomorrow,would you have any regrets?.
Wow - this is an amazing question,and I want to talk about it. It is a challenging
question,and I wonder how you react to it? If you were to die tomorrow,would you
have any regrets? If so,what would you wish you had done,prior to your last day?
What in your life would you have changed? Here are a few replies on the forum ..
"Too many to count. I'm just useless and should have taken more chances...now I
regret it all. I'm pathetic.. Someone else said .. Yes,I would have to say I do have some
regrets. I think most of us,at some stage of our lives have made decisions that we
regret. But as the years go on I try to look on the brighter side of things,and try to
get-over those sinking feelings of Why did I make that stupid decision?. Sometimes I
use the old excuse,it's fate,you can't turn back the clock etc. Do we really know if
we have made the right decisions on some things? Apart from the obvious,good versus
evil). I think my one biggest regret is that I moved to a foreign country with my
family,(We thought it was the right decision at the time),and this was a very dramatic
and trying time for the family. But I am still fighting everyday to make life as normal
and comfortable as possible".
And then there's this comment .. "If I were to die tomorrow,I would not have any
regrets. I have done many things that I am not proud of,but do not regret as those are
the things that have made me who I am today. I am very happy with myself and in my
skin!"
I'm sure it's true that people all over the world are filled with regret for many
reasons ..I heard of a man who was unfaithful to his wife. He said "I don't know why I
did it - I wish I had not - I think about it all the time". Others regret not giving
enough time to their children before they grew up. There are thousands of reasons ..
There's a nice scene in the Anne of Green Gables movies. Anne is a young woman in her
20s and is talking to her adoptive mother about mistakes she made in her relationships.
Especially with one special boy named Gilbert Blythe. Anne said in particular that
she regretted the time she didn't even thank Gilbert Blythe for saving her life. He
came rowing by with a boat when she was clinging desperately to the support post of a
bridge in the middle of a deep river. She wishes she had thanked him then; it would
have made a difference in what happened next. She is living with regret.
I'm sure many have said .. I have so many regrets over all the opportunities I've
wasted. I wish I could start over and try again. It's like the poem that goes like
this .."I wish there was some wonderful place called the Land of beginning again .
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our poor selfish griefs could
be cast like a shabby old coat at the door And never be put on again. I wish there wa
some wonderful place Called the Land of begin again."
Katherine Hepburn once said .."I have many regrets,and I'm sure everyone does. The
stupid things you do,you regret...if you have any sense....And if you don't regret
them,maybe you're stupid." And Woody Allen once famously said .. "My one regret in
life is that I am not someone else."
Regrets can be a powerful thing that takes hold of your life,and when these feelings
are very strong,the thoughts and emotions can chip away at your life and bring you
down.
Max Lucado once wrote referring to regrets ..
"Go to the effort. Invest the time. Write the letter. Make the apology. Take the trip.
Purchase the gift. Do it. The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings
regret."