I have a few of those. I normally don’t dwell on them because most involve situations about which I can do nothing. Take yesterday, for example ….

All day Diane and I were driving up and down the California Coast, absorbing the incredible grandeur of the area, blissfully unaware of the horrific events transpiring in Boston. We didn’t know anything about it until late afternoon when we turned on the TV upon our return.

At first we thought it was some horrible accident, maybe a collapsed grandstand, or something like that. As we watched, the pieces came together and we learned of the bombs in Boston and the carnage they caused.

Now for my regrets …

I regret that there are people in the world who feel the need to use violence as a tool to make a point. It’s such a cowardly way of doing things. I know … bullies use violence, but at least they directly participate in the process.

I regret that so many people got hurt in Boston. I also regret that so many people were killed, and hurt, in Viet Nam, Korea, the South Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Japan, China, Africa, South America … the list goes on. It’s not that I typically think about those things, because I don’t. Having something like this happen so close to home, so close to loved ones, just brings all the other atrocities in the world to the surface.

I regret that there is violence all around us, every day. We just don’t see all of it. It’s about power and the willingness to exert that power over someone else. We long for a peaceful world but that isn’t likely to happen as long as someone has something someone else wants and ignores some pretty basic rules to get it. Take football, for example. Both teams want it, but there are rules one must follow to either keep it or get it back. Referees are assigned to enforce the rules because both teams forget them quite often. Actually, part of the game, in my opinion, is for players to break the rules and see if they can get away with it. Yes, it would be nice to live in a world where everyone got along without the need for referees, but we need them to contain the chaos that would erupt without those guys and their whistles and flags. The vast majority of us know the rules, too, and we applaud when our team gets away with breaking one of them … if our team wins, does that make it OK?

I find my head going in circles on this. The sports & war comparison isn’t new. It’s just not something I’ve ever tried to comprehend beyond the obvious. We all know what’s right and wrong at the basic level of existence but those beliefs are further defined by our experiences … this could go on, and on.

This is one of those philosophical exercises that has no end and I apologize for subjecting you to my wonderings. It’s not my normal way of relating events, but having this on my mind kinda takes the humor out of things. At least for a while.