In retrospective contemplation, I feel compelled to say I'm better off because of how life's worked out, opportunities I've had for taking certain paths instead of others.
What if I'm not better off, though?
Perhaps "better" is a coping mechanism. Perhaps I don't have better, while I do have now. This is where and when I am, but seen parallel, other options could potentially be much better under certain analysis.
Who am I to judge the man who made different decisions simply because I did not? Different circumstances. Different consequences.
Is he a failure who seized the opportunities I didn't?
Then again, could I have really done differently as I sit here with separate results in a separate reality. (Free will sometimes seems a shaky concept in hindsight.)
Right now does not equal better. It could have, I suppose, but I dare to admit than in my case it doesn't. This recognition is the meaning of regret.
I would imagine that hope, as far as free will is concerned, lies in that chance we might make the choice that not only seems the wisest at the time but whose consequences would stand up to the scrutiny of all other possible situations. It's the hope that even if the best is too far off, better off is right around the corner. Not only that, but it may just be in our hands.
Real life, after all—the one they told you will start just as soon as you're done doing whatever you're doing now—is the conglomeration of a whole lot of misplaced priorities.
No comments:
Post a Comment