…..an opportunity was there for the taking, but like all stupid ignoramuses I mistook it for a problem instead and instinctively fled the scene in a panic without acting or even thinking clearly. And akin to virtually every opportunity that manifests, this chance was present for only an instant before it disappeared with all the grandiosity of a ghost, and I was then left to live with eternal regrets of what might have been had I only possessed the courage and intuition to recognize the lopsided rewards I could reasonably expect to harvest in a nonpunitive period of time and thereupon marshalled the courage needed to confront this highly fluid situation forcefully and head-on. But that didn’t happen. No, nothing remotely close to that happened. Rather, I failed to act decisively during that pivotal moment so I’m now left holding an empty bag as I trudge away from the scene of the “crime” pushing a wheelbarrow loaded chockfull of regrets, remorse, and ruefulness, even as some other lucky fool (Luck?! Hell no, luck had nothing to do with the outcome!) runs off grinning fiendishly with his jumbo-sized sack overflowing with lucre…..
Fred's Soapbox 