Do Humans Make Regret Walk?

All of us, consciously and unconsciously, make our Regret Walk back to the wrong decisions, streets, avenues, lanes, or roads.

I don’t make regretful walks because wherever I go, my best becomes an involuntary action. When you leave kindness and good intentions behind, there will be no space for regrets. Sensible humans don’t regret being good because the good they do or live will form a protective shield around them. Life will repay them for the good they shared with our world.

“I have lived here for three years, and every morning he walks by here wearing a three-piece suit, carrying a black briefcase. He is never late and stops at that house, looks at his watch, stays there for exactly five minutes, then walks away, swaying his head. Then he would return the same time every evening, checking his watch, stamping his feet twice, and leaving. This goes on from Monday to Friday?” Fiona asked her neighbor, who has been living in the area for more than thirty years.

“He stopped coming on the weekends?” Dina asked.

With wide eyes, Fiona responded, “You knew about this?”

“Most of the neighbors do,” Dina revealed, her hands in the air.

“He dresses differently on the weekends as if he plays golf,” Fiona informed.

“So, he still comes on weekends,” Dina said.

“Why?” Fiona asked.

“Oh, he does his regret walks daily,” she explained with ease.

“His regret what?” Fiona’s shock demanded.

“More than twenty years ago, he lived in the house across the street. He has a beautiful wife and two children whom he wasn’t very good to,” Dina Santos explained, pausing to push the pain away.

“She left him, and he keeps coming back?”

“No, she didn’t leave him. He made her life hell, and she committed suicide, leaving a note explaining how cruel he was to her. She begged her children to forgive her.”

“Oh God no!” Fiona cried out. “How old were the children?”

“7 and 8.”

“But they are babies!”

“They discovered her body, too,” Dina recalls the shock and pain the entire community was raging in.

“Oh no!” the pain in her heart said.

“The house belonged to her parents. They sold it and left with the children.”

“They are adults now. Does he see them?”

“They don’t wish to see him because of what he did to their mother.”

“Damn, but why come back to pain?”

“Love started here. They met here as children. According to the report, he was experiencing hell at work and took it out on her. He keeps coming back, hoping he can change something,” Dina elaborates.

“But he can’t,” Fiona’s pain expressed.

“He is over sixty, and the pain his brain is enduring isn’t aware of that. Many humans make their daily Regret Walk. Most aren’t aware that some situations can’t change. Many go back to what they want, thinking it will just come back to them,” Dina explained in reflection.

Fiona sighed heavily and deeply, pushing the pain back, then shared, “I am going to change how I live my life, because I can’t make regret walks when I am old.”

“Regrets are a part of our lives; not all of our decisions will be the right ones,” Dina reminded her.

“I know that,” she said sadly. “But wasn’t anyone thinking of the children?”

Dina sighed again, then asked, “Do you regret your mistakes?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“What if you learned vital life lessons from them and ended up making better decisions?” Dina asked.

“Then I have no reason to make my Regret Walks,” she answered with a smile.

“See,” Dina said, grinning too, “if we learn from our mistakes, there will be no place for Regrets.”

This piece was inspired by a young man who was friends with one of my neighbors. The friendship ended, and every day for the past six months, at the exact time they used to hang out and enjoy themselves, he was seen passing by, his eyes on his ex-friend’s yard.

Regrets are a part of our lives, but what if we can learn from our mistakes and not repeat them? Would we still have to make our Regret Walks?

This piece is real, but in a different way. The person making the regret walk stole from his friend. His friend removed him from his life and home. He took several walks throughout the day, staring at his friend’s house as happy memories took hold of his body, heart, mind, and soul. He wishes he had made better decisions.

All of us have been here. Some never left. I learned from my mistakes, paid the piper, forgave, and moved on.

Thank you for reading this piece; I hope you enjoyed it.