Things I Never Did But Wish I Had
I actually came close on this one in the late 1960s. We lived in a Dallas apartment building, and Puddy Tat was our baby. Her nightly hunting forays into the field across the street kept her out late, and we worried. It took hundreds of trips to the front door to check on her before the idea came. If there were only a device to signal her return, I would have to go to the door but once.
And thus the Puddy Tat Alarm became a reality. Puddy Tat learned quickly. She would poke her nose into precisely the right spot on the door to sound the alarm, and we would spring up to let her in! It truly saved thousands of steps. But they were hers, not ours. Gone were her fruitless trips up the stairs to find nobody waiting at the door. I soon recognized additional value in converting this labor saver into spare parts as quickly as possible.
What peace of mind it would bring (I reasoned on another occasion) to also have an alarm to automatically sound when dangerous weather threatened. Instead of keeping our ears glued to weather broadcasts throughout the night, we could sleep until the weather bureau transmitted a radio signal that would instantly activate a special receiver in the bedroom.
But this idea died as an embryo. Someone else invented it, and my list of Things I Never Did But Wish I Had grew longer.
And though pondering this list and considering what could have been may be discouraging, it's not the only list I keep. There's a second list that generates greater consternation. I call it Things I Did But Wish I Never Had.
Let me give you a couple of confidential peeks.
When I was young and considering careers, I debated over two options. Though I chose the path of most immediate interest and attraction; the other path would have served me better over time.
While bowing to discretion, I must also say that I wish I had never behaved in ways that brought dishonor or embarrassment to my parents, my wife or my children. But there are such entries on the second list.
Regrets over the first list--Things I Never Did But Wish I Had--must be tempered with the understanding that those things may never have materialized anyway. But the second list--Things I Did But Wish I Never Had--are points of fact that cannot be denied reversed.
And in my resolve to do better from this point on, it would be wonderful to keep the second list as is: no more additions. Our sins of commission are likely to bring more harm than our sins of omission.
Copyright 2002 James McAlister
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