Live and leave well enough alone

Live without regret.  Since May 2007 this has been my mantra- to live so that I won't have to look back and wish I had done it differently.  Ironically this mantra stemmed from my biggest regret, but in some small way I am thankful for this mistake because it shaped everything about me.  My biggest regret is not about something that I did do, but rather, that I didn't do.  Every time someone tells me a secret I knew I couldn't keep.  Every time I see teenagers in love.  Every time I hear Quenya.  It still haunts me.  It's one of the many reasons why I don't think I will ever live in California again- I'm afraid to run into her.  I'm afraid to see something I might have been able to prevent. 

I've been gifted with an unusual knack for people telling me their secrets.  Complete strangers walk up to me and tell me their life stories without question.  People I have known for a few hours tell me the worst thing that ever happened to them.  Reading post secret is therapeutic for me because it lets me know that I'm not the only who hears about the worst of humanity.  Someone out there is reaching out for someone... who isn't me.  It scares me because I never know what to say... and yet people keep telling me their secrets.  The one thing I have learned, albeit the hard way, is to never help a child keep a secret from their parents.  No good ever comes from keeping a big secret from a parent.  The other thing I have learned is... never promise to keep a secret.  I've had to report everything from rape to suicidal aspirations and there is nothing more terrifying than self doubt. 

What I am trying to say is, you could live and leave well enough alone, and trust that someone else is going to make things right, or you could be God's hand on earth.  I've lost many friends doing what I think is right.  Some of them will never speak to me again I suspect, but at least I'm not living with questions in my head of whether I could have stopped it from happening.  Living without regret requires action but also acceptance, and to that thought I issue this challenge; if you consider yourself a friend do what is right and not what is popular, even if that means that someone may never forgive you.