Regret. It is a feeling that can strike without warning. For instance, I
once went to school without realizing it was my best friend's birthday. I felt
embarrassed that I had forgotten, but later, I was full of regret because I had
not been mentally tied to my best friend's birthday. Or in other words, my mind
missed the opportunity to be in a celebratory mood, and thus, I was at a loss.
So, I have learned forgetting tends to be a regretful thing.

Now imagine forgetting about life in general. Forget the little things
that encompass it and make it so genuine, inspiring, and miraculous. Forget
about animals, trees, flowers, clouds, stars, soil, rain, and the rest of
nature. Forget about your family and friends. Forget about your heritage.
Forget about what makes you laugh and smile and what makes you warm and fuzzy
inside. Now, what is left in the world? There is nothing left to sustain the
soul.

It is hard to think someone can forget about the blessings of life. After
all, we see them around us every day. But people have a problem, not
necessarily with recalling what is around them, but in remembering to
incorporate life's little miracles into their minds and bodies. What I get
worried about is whether people are alive. For instance, at school I sometimes
find it very difficult to be myself amidst the pressures coming from
technology, my classes, and my peers. One time it felt like I became a machine
on a mission to gobble up knowledge and spit out straight A's. Then, it
transcended to my home, where I became oblivious to my family. And at night,
when I fell asleep, my mind did not dream, because on that day nothing
memorable or exciting happened in my life.

I look back at my life as of yet, and I see some gaps. I cannot recall
memories of those periods, and even worse, memories of my family and friends,
because I was mesmerized into some artificial persona. Now as my life at home
approaches an end, the regret tends to manifest itself when I feel happy or
when I am around the people I love. It is painful, but all I can do is learn
from my regret. On the path of life we can get lost in the world's
superficiality without even realizing it. What is really meaningful and
beautiful to us becomes skewed, which makes for a perverse perception of what
is around us.

The issue here is not in our inability to remember facts and data, but
when we fail to avoid the tragedy of the mundane. It is human to forget, but if
we are to remember anything, especially in this world so full of distraction
and deceit, it is to use our gift of life to the fullest. For as Mary Oliver
once wrote: "...I don't want to end up having simply visited this world."