[size=14pt]RETROSPECT
Had I known, I would have……... and then things would be better right now.
If only I knew……
If I could go back in time, I will…….
Regrets and wishes. Both very opposite, yet very similar. Coming to a compromise, and working in synergy, they produce something devastating. RETROSPECT.
Retrospect is a very pretty two-faced demon. Beautifully appealing, she draws you into her warm embrace, inviting you to relax just a little, and then some. With and within her, everything feels so right. You think to yourself how comforting she is, how right she is, how nice she is. You get so caught up in the comfort she offers that you lose track of time. You find yourself musing on how best to remain in there, unwittingly leading yourself to the pit.
Who is this pretty demon of whom we speak? Retrospect, simply put, is thinking back on what could have, and should have been. It involves thinking about what alternative course of action you could have taken, and how much of a perfect result you would have achieved had you followed it. In retrospect, you are always right. In retrospect, every alternative course of action followed would produce some “more appropriate, rewarding and satisfying”. But herein lies the demon behind the pretty face.
Life does not wait while you pay retrospect a visit. While retrospect holds you ever so tenderly in its warm embrace, life moves forward, leaving you in its wake and on its trail. When retrospect flashes you her most affectionate of smiles, and heartily consumes some of your time, life gives you a ‘bad eye’, and drifts off you.
Why have a date with retrospect when life beckons you over, willing you to go on a ride with her? Why enjoy the comforting embrace of this evil beauty when ahead of you lies the prettiest of mountains for your climbing pleasure? Like a snow-capped mountain, your ride with life is going to be filled with peaks and troughs, subtle curves and sharp bends, grassy plains and wild forests, gentle slopes and much steeper ones. Therein lies the subtle, more concealed beauty of life. Every new peak is an achievement, and every trough a challenge. There are so many routes to the top of every mountain, each providing much different challenges and excitements. Yet each, if well navigated, leading to the same point - the top. Life is beautiful, providing enough room for recourse if you’re not so okay with your initially chosen route. However, when you spend more of your time on a trough thinking how much more beautiful the view was from your last peak, you’d never get to the ultimate peak, where your joy and satisfaction will know no bounds.
So, next time you come across this pretty two-faced demon, if you must hold her, hold her for just a little while. Everyone has a legitimate urge to pay her a visit sometimes, which can, if well utilized, lead to much better times. So each time you think back, make it very brief and useful. Should you, however, find her company so enjoyable that you desire not to leave her, remember that you’d be exhausting precious time on this sadistic genius who gives you only short-term satisfaction, and long-term devastation.
[/size]


I would appreciate critical, honest but merciful reviews on this piece. More appreciated would be reviews of those in the field of writing. Thanks