In reply to Amber's comment on my last post of 'if that is the worst thing you did in high school you were a saint' No,the way I handled that boy wasn't the worst thing I did in high school but here is my biggest regret from high school.....
I did my fair share of mistake making in high school but I don't regret the mistakes so much because of the lessons learned. My number one regret was being mean to someone and never making the wrong right. My first year in high school was marked by a transition in friends and a new ability to leave campus for lunch. By the end of sophomore year our lunch group consisted of my best friends Brittani and Katrina, a few boys and another girl, I'll refer to her as Jane although that isn't her name. Brit, kat and I were pretty well inseparable but lunch was about the only time we'd hang out with the boys and Jane. Jane was really about the sweetest girl and we would invite her to do stuff outside of school but she always declined. Maybe we could have tried harder. Well the boys decided Jane was a bit weird and so on the last day of school, when we had an extra long lunch and were planning on going to go to my house, convinced me to ditch her for lunch. So we made plans to meet at a different location inorder to avoid her coming along. Well we went to lunch, I had one more class that afternoon and then summer started. I didn't see Jane again and so never had to see if she realized we had ditched her or thought it was just an accident that she was left behind. Actually I know she had other friends so I don't even know if she was planning on going to lunch with us that day. Summer passed and since we never hung out with her outside of school I didn't see her. School started again and I never really talked to her and never really thought about it... until the following spring break when I came home from vacation to learn she had been killed. Apparently she had snuck out of her house with a boy, I seem to remember the newspaper article saying he had been drinking, and when they missed a curve in the road they flew off the rode, were ejected from the car and both died. The fact that I never apologized or even spoke to her again and now won't have the chance to is what I regret most from high school. I know that Jane had other friends and I don't think what we did that day was the end of the world for ther but I still did something that was less than kind to her and never fixed my mistake.
So I ask you, is there someone you wrong and you haven't made it right yet? Don't loose the chance to make it right and remeber what garth brooks says:
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel
2 comments:
Thanks for the reminder, Margaret.
In 9th grade in CT, I was in a Geometry class with some (mostly older) students and one younger guy named Mike. I probably wasn't the most liked person in school, but I had finally made some good friends. One day (and pretty much every day), some of the guys in the class were being really mean to Mike. I didn't say anything in his defense because I was so glad that they weren't making fun of me. I've regretted my non-action ever since.
Problem is, I'll never see him again. But if I do...
Wow! A powerful example. It's gut wrenching when we never have a chance to set things right. There are so many people from my past that I wronged and that I had the opportunity to set right but never did. And I live with much regret. So thank you for your story.
Hope to see you at batting practice!
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