Go for it while You Still Have the Chance

Ross Reck, “It’s not uncommon to hear people making excuses about why they didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that life sent their way. You’ll hear them say things like, “I could have done this or that….” Then come the excuses: “…but at the time my kids were little,” or “but we had just bought a new house,” or “but it seemed like too big of a risk” Unfortunately, many of these people continue this pattern of making excuses right into their old age. Then, all they have to reflect on during their “golden years” are regrets about all those opportunities they let pass by and now it is too late to take advantage of them. As John Greenleaf Whittier put it, “Of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, what might have been?” On the other hand, those who took advantage of the opportunities that life threw at them have many fond and exciting memories of look back on. So, if you don’t want to torture yourself later in life with, “What might have been,” go for it while you still have the chance!”

References:

• John Greenleaf Whittier (Wikipedia)

Available from Amazon.com

The Poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier: A Readers’ Edition

William Jolliff, Professor of English at George Fox University has selected 55 of John Greenleaf Whittier’s more than 500 poems with the intention of turning readers into Whittier fans. His guiding focus for this edition is “readability by contemporaries.” A biographical and critical introduction and the identification of themes in each section are important guides. William Jolliff’s brief introductions to the poems themselves give specific historical background and interpretive help when necessary. Includes Snow-Bound, “Icabod,” “Telling the Bees,” “The Barefoot Boy,” “Skipper Ireson’s Ride,” and “In the Old South.”