highline56 op ed

Ken Linville got me to thinking about this. After I arrived at sort of an answer I plugged the subject into Google to see what others have said about it. So far I see good ideas like have more fun, eat popcorn in the good living room, and so on. But the real answer to me lies in figuring out exactly what you would change, and I am not getting there. It is too risky to change anything when you don't know what the outcome might be. Even where life could have been better along the way, there is always the possibility it could have been worse, or, even scarier, worse now, when it is darn good.

A big unknown is whether the change of a single choice or event would propagate in ever widening differences, like that butterfly who flapped his wings and caused a hurricane, or die out like the ripples in a pond, with things ending up pretty much the same. Some might figure they could make a better choice of a mate that first time, but a second chance could change some things you might not like.

I think the answer is to have more than one shot at this. I will live it over and change just one thing (otherwise I won't know what did it), compare with the present, and then live it over again, change and compare, and then over again until I either get it perfect or get tired of reading Silas Marner. On the other hand, that sure seems like a lot of work for someone who is retired.