Moments and Regrets

  Life is made up of thousands of little moments, and with each new moment comes a choice. Not always a major choice, like which college to go to, who to marry, which house to buy. Most of the time it's a small one, like what to wear, how you should respond to a text, what to say to a friend in trouble. Often the decision consists primarily of whether or not you should act at all. In this moment I am deciding what words to type, what punctuation to use, which sentiments I want to express, whether my tone should be joking or serious. All this in just one moment.

  A moment (I apologize for the excessive use of that word), and the choice that comes with it, is the molecule of life. Just as the human body is comprised of billions of tiny atoms, so the human existence is made up of billions of minuscule moments. Most of them may seem unimportant when judged by their own merit, but each is necessary to the fate of the whole.

  You see, the selection you make at one point leads to another group of options, and so on and so forth until the direction your life was going shifts and you are faced with new horizons to pursue. Have you ever stopped to think about where you are in the world and how you got there? Can you trace your path back to the second things started to change?

  Sadly, this foundation isn't always rock solid. The fact that one decision can change your life forever is such a humungous cliche that I almost feel lazy and uncreative just by typing it here. But the moment to use it is definitely now, on a blog that practically no one reads.

  Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Regret. The direct result of an ill-used moment. We all have them, some are big, some are not blue. But all are incredibly nasty to experience. There are two types of regret: the kind you get by missing out on an opportunity, and the kind that follows a misdeed. Both are unpleasant, but not to the same caliber.

  For example: when I was waiting in line at Disney World one day, I noticed that the guy next to me had the most gorgeous hair imaginable. It looked like a chocolate, curly cloud. I was sure that if I could just burry my hand into its lustrous depths, it would magically bestow upon me all of life's secrets. Sadly, I did not have the courage necessary to fondle a stranger's scalp, and the thought of what might have happened if my flesh came into contact with what could only be the hair of an angel haunts me to this day.

  However, the curiosity that pains me over this occurrence is nothing compared to the guilt I feel over my sins. I can laugh off the hair story, but I cannot get rid of the negative feelings I have for the things I am guilty of. There is nothing funny about the mean spirited things I have done and said, or the thoughts I have given room and board to in my head. Nothing even mildly amusing about how I have ignored God and avoided prayer like it was the plague.

  Lucky for me regret is not a terminal condition, but rather an alarm that goes off in our soul, telling us that the time has come for one of those pivotal moments. Time to take the knowledge you have garnered, and choose better.

  As the band Relient K so eloquently put it, "with every passing second comes a second chance."

  In other words, "magic hair, here I come."