I was young and stupid!

"So, tell me. What's your learning from life? What is that one thing you absolutely loved doing or you regret not doing? That one thing if you have to call it out, that one thing keeps coming back at you." I asked looking at him.

Desmund said "Oh yeah absolutely, I regret not being a pilot." driving past the signal.

Desmund was a Jamaican in his late sixties who has lived in Ontario for over 30 years now, who worked in hospital then worked as realtor and now works in an auto care, where I met him last week after I dropped my Jeep for servicing. He was handling my pickup and drop off.

I said " Okay. Why dint you do it, what stopped you, money, family etc..?"

He - " Oh, I was just young and stupid. Very egoistic back then. I was 19, was in London. I wanted to join RAF, but I was trying a back door route. They said you can work as a steward for a year, and then you can train for a pilot. It was still part of Royal airforce you know. But I was a headstrong arrogant guy you know. I said, if I had to work as some waiter I would join a restaurant, why would I come to RAF. And I left. I was stupid, very very stupid. I loved flying, still love being up in the air. "

Me - " You dint try again? Like going back to it? Or life just happened and you never could go back?"

Him - "Yeah, I worked in IT department of Air Canada. Thats the closest I have come to airline world. After 9/11, they laid off all the new employees, so then I became realtor."

Me - "are you happy with the way life turned out for you or you are slightly bitter?"

Him - "Yeah life is okay the way it is. But I always think I should have stuck around in RAF, life would have been so different"

Me - "Well, you did try though, so that counts for something. But I guess when we are young, we do make choices on completely different frequency than we can see today. I was a badass person few years back, so I know what you mean. There's not much you can do thinking about it."

Him - "No. You have turned out absolutely fine. You have a very pleasant personality. You did well."

Me says "Hahaha. Thank you Desmund!" And thinking to myself - "Well, I know I was stupid, and I am stupid even now. But at least so far I don't have anything that I regret, my choices have been good so far, hope it stays that way."

Comments

VeerajFebruary 24, 2020 at 7:36 PM
One thing past always reminds is you cant change it . Ala akka
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