A Re-do, Please?

For some reason my mind has been racing lately to answer the question that I suppose most people ask themselves as they grow older.  The question is this:  “If I could live life over what would I do differently?”  I have heard people say that if they had to do it over again they would change nothing.  They would do everything the same.  That amazes me.  I can think of numerous things that I would change if I had the opportunity.

This is not to say that I now live with many regrets, or that I feel that I made great mistakes of the past.  What I am saying is that I have learned through the years to view things differently.  Given the times in which I have lived and served and the experiences that I had, I think that I did better than average, and I suppose repeating life with the exact circumstances nothing much would change.  However, I have changed and my view of things has changed, so a “re-do” would be done with much more current knowledge.

Since there is no possibility for a repeat of life, the next best thing is to try to share what one has learned in hopes that those who follow will gain some benefit.  I have read that the playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, “Youth is such a wonderful thing.  It is a shame to waste it on young people.”  I think I now understand what he was getting at with that comment.  There is a wisdom that comes with years and experience that cannot be gained or perhaps even accepted in one’s youth.