Full Of It

  Maybe this should've been my first post.  After all, it's kind of the whole crux of this blogging thing.  Why in the world would anybody read this?
  What is it that makes us think that we know enough about something to write about it, expect it to be read, and expect somebody to respect it?  I don't think it's ego, or even self confidence.  I think we just all want to be heard.  And what's more, our opinion does matter, it is important, and it should be respected.
  And yet, we seem to value some opinions over others.  Why does celebrity status mean that we automatically voice our thoughts, and people also seem to automatically listen and debate that opinion.  Tell me why being a good actor means you know any more about politics than myself, my wife, my neighbor, or anybody else?  Just because a guy can throw touchdowns does not mean he fills the criteria to be a congressman.  And while I'm on the subject, being able to read the news from a teleprompter and ask good questions during an interview does not make you smarter than anybody else when it comes to federal fiscal policy.
  So the way I see it is, we all need to take any of these statements and opinions from those in the media, television, movies, and professional sports with as much thought and concern as we would that of a neighbor over our backyard fence.  Stop looking to somebody who has a platform to make a statement to form your opinions for you, and educate yourselves on the facts from both sides.  Most of the time, there are gains to be made by those voicing their opinions (and they are usually opinions, not facts).  Or at the very least, they have an ax to grind.
  And so as I decide what to write in further blogs, I'm going to make those decisions the way I hope others with louder voices than I have arrive at their decisions.  I'm going to continue to read, learn, listen, and ponder the things that are important to me.  I've got to believe that the things that matter to me are important to others, too, and at the very least maybe I'll learn from somebody else along the way.  The fact that you've made it this far into this post means that you're at least a little interested in what I have to say.  And I hope that I'm not coming off sounding like the noisy pundits of the world, because that's when I'll know that I'm just full of it.

What If? or Regret

  I think it's human nature to often wonder, "what if?".  It's probably one of the most common human conditions to wonder how a situation could have been altered by one or two small changes in past occurences.  Simple things, like, "If I hadn't turned down that street to avoid traffic", or, "If he had brought my food on time so I wouldn't have been late."  More often, it's complicated events like, "If I hadn't chose that major", or, "If I hadn't married this person."  Usually, it's pretty harmless day dreaming that doesn't really mean anything.  Regret, on the other hand, well that can be an awfully tough thing to deal with.
  Regret, I think, often comes with unhappiness.  Or at the very least, an unsatisfying situation.  It means that something happened, either planned or unplanned, to  lead to this moment that is so far from what was intended that a person wishes they could go back and change it.  The problem is, even if you could change that one thing, it would lead to so many other things being different that the result would be unrecognizable.  What makes it hard to deal with is that usually regret comes from a decision that the "regretter" caused themselves.
  A self aware person will typically recognize that, I suppose, and say to themselves, "Well, I have only my self to blame."  But a person who has regrets is probably the same kind of person who looks to things that happened to them and places blame there.  As the saying goes, your attitude is controlled 10% by what happens to you, and 90% by how you react to it.  Why would I regret something I cannot control?  And so, I think regret also goes hand in hand with a persons need to forgive themselves for a reaction to something that steered them to the place they are.
  I have a hard time saying that I regret something.  But then again, the things that matter most to me I find to be blessings that all at once keep me happy, content, sane, hopeful, busy, sympathetic and empathetic, healthy, entertained, and probably most importantly, thankful.  So, why would I regret?  Because if I regret anything, then all of that could just as easily have never been part of who I am.  Even if I continue to wonder, "what if?", it's just a harmless daydream that has nothing to do with right now, nothing to do with where I am, and nothing to do with the way my attitude is turned into actions that bring me to the next place and the next time something comes up that may cause me at best dissatisfaction or discomfort, or at worst misery, I can simply smile at the thought that it could all be very, very different, and go on trying to make it better.