“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
Sydney J. Harris
I had an interesting conversation last night about choices. I suppose the conversation led me to think about life. Or perhaps my life leads me to think about choices. Which came first…the chicken or the egg? Either way…the chicken exists…and that is what we know with certainty. So the chicken questions it’s life. Let’s call her Bertha. Bertha thinks back, recalling the incidents of her life and how she came to be the chicken she is today. Bertha has a somewhat hard life. She has had many things that she should regret, but ceases to “regret” because she realizes one important point. Life is a series of battles and struggles that when a chicken endures and overcomes, makes her that much better a chicken. I mean Bertha is great at laying eggs. That is the point of a chicken’s existence, isn’t it? Or perhaps, Farmer Joe may disagree because Farmer Joe likes to eat chicken. Farmer Joe would like it if Bertha would eat more feed so that he may bring Bertha to the chopping block. But Bertha doesn’t like to eat feed. She likes eating grass…and that keeps her trim…ultimately saving her short Chicken life. Arguably, only because Bertha is good at laying those eggs.
Bertha thinks back over her life and realizes the one regret that she could possibly have is that she chose to be the layer of eggs. (Truly it is questionable that she ever did have a choice) I mean…it is so BOOO-ring! All the sitting in that stuffy hen house with all those noisy hens! Bertha wishes that she chose a life of cock fighting. That is such a more exciting thrilling life with all of the glamor and fancy outfits! But unfortunately, she was never much of cock. She is not a cock at all for that matter! For, she was born a chicken…or hen…or whatever you want to call her. The one thing that she does know…is that Bertha loves the chair that sits in the middle of the yard. Had she had chose a different life, she may never have discovered that chair. Day after day, that chair brings her great joy…nothing brings Bertha greater joy than sitting with her beloved chair after a long day of laying eggs. Regret escapes her as she sits in her chair, as the sun shines down warming her feathers.
So that is the story of Bertha, layer of eggs.
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Totally Awesome. One must experience different paths in order to find just the right path for YOU. Whatever the cost, one must be willing have strength, wisdom, and courage to find that path.