If only I had done this instead of that. If only I hadn’t said anything. If only I had said something. If only I had gone home. If only I had stayed home that night. If only I had finished what I started. If only I knew then what I know now.
I believe we all have some ‘if only’ reflections in which a different decision would have changed the course of our lives. In fact, today we will make decisions which we will reflect upon in the future as an ‘if only’ moment. Today’s decisions will have positive outcomes depending on how much we learned from our past decisions, how well we assess the terrain, and depending on our hopes and goals for the future. If we learn nothing from our past, our present and future decisions will be the same as our past decisions. If we have learned from the past but fail to observe the old patterns in new situations, we will step on the same booby traps and mine fields that hindered our progress before. If we have no mission, plan, or goal, we will accept whatever happens as if it were something that was meant to be. If we lose hope, we accept defeat. If we lose hope we agree to die where we are, or we play a game of chance, depending on luck, or someone else, to change our fate.
We go through mine fields every day and we encounter booby traps along the way. These mines may have been intentionally set by those who want to benefit from our defeat. Or, they may have been unintentionally set by those who live in a culture and atmosphere of defeat. Whether set intentionally or unintentionally, the mines and booby traps will distract, demoralize, and defeat you if you are not aware of them, and diligent to avoid them. It is also important to dismantle the traps and diffuse the bombs so that others will not step on them, because everyone can be affected by an explosion and anyone can be caught in a trap.
I am becoming more aware of how others have been hurt and wounded by the traps I got caught in, and by the mines I stepped on. I am also becoming aware of how others have been helped when I saw, avoided, and dismantled booby traps and mines along the way. Although we have those ‘if only’ moments personally, nationally, and as a human family on earth, we can change our course each day as we dismantle the bombs that we inherited from those who lived on the planet before we arrived. We can also dismantle the traps and mines that we have left along the way, intentionally or unintentionally. We can be disciplined for our own success, and for the success and well-being of our world.