Don't I Wish
By Shirley AnnParker

When we consider that many of us are on the home stretch of our mortal lives, the saddest comment might be “Don’t I wish!” When people talk of wasted years, we are usually referring to being hindered by specific circumstances on our journey. These may include:

• birth into a less-affluent social strata
• life paths not pursued
• education that wasn’t available, when having it could have meant
  all the difference in the world
• marriage to someone whose values turned out to be different
• care of a relative while other members of the family have been
  off “doing their thing”
• abandonment of children to the care of others when we could have put them first (sometimes we have to put their food on the table any decent way we can)
• drifting along because any decision looked like the wrong one

Some of the crossroads in life are major intersections. One is emigration to another country and rarely if ever returning home, while other immigrants you meet go home every year to maintain their family ties. Another crossroads would be the decision to change your religious affiliation, alienating most of your family in the process. Yet a third is joining a political party whose planks may be antithetical to everything you grew up hearing, as well as slammed by those you associate with at work, church or wherever.

Any of these are the earlier life situations for which now there is no going back, even if we wanted to. And it is often better to let the past be. Even so, we can scan the horizon for any signposts in the distance that signal the next crossroads is fast approaching.

Every now and then we get another chance to fix that which was broken by our own actions or interfering events. However, we cannot change our destiny. The good Lord meant for me to come to the USA and I have stayed here, in spite of all the brickbats and other abuse hurled at me. I will be judged on how I handled what came my way, not by things I could not control, such as spiteful behavior by unbalanced, low-esteem people.

In an ideal world, we are all born with the freedom to believe what we wish, along with the ability to act as we choose to the extent we do not bring harm to others. Such freedom carries huge responsibility and many are not prepared to accept that. The very notion of personal responsibility is alien to them: they drive like arrogant fools, often destroying the lives of others; they propagate legions of innocent children to become the burden of taxpayers, children who deserved to have both a father and a mother; and worst of all, they destroy the very moral fabric that has held God-fearing societies together for millennia. Rules and taboos exist for a reason.

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It is almost better for irresponsible people to live in a society that dictates their every move, since they are not ready to govern themselves or their behavior. Democracy is not for those who don’t wish to contribute to building and maintaining the society they live in. Often that support means doing things we don’t particularly want to do, like voting in ho-hum elections, writing letters to the editor, or facing down an insulting co-worker or micromanaging boss instead of being a perpetual brownnosed employee.

It’s foolish to destroy our own future but nothing can prevent that if we are determined to do so. “America’s dumbest” extends to all strata of this society and others. In fact I would like to be a fly on the wall when such persons try to explain to our Creator on Judgment Day why they wasted their time on earth in disgusting pursuits. Yes, they were free to do so, but why did they do it? We all waste time to one extent or another, rather than use it to increase our knowledge and useful skills and/or to help those less fortunate, but there’s waste and then there’s Waste. The Parable of the Five Talents still applies today.

We can’t change the past but even if we’ve spent five or 25 years of our lives in a dead end situation, the future still beckons. There are still possibilities for personal achievement. “Don’t I wish!” doesn’t have to be our heart’s lament.

Thanks Shirley for the insight. . . J. Wolf

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