- Imagine sitting there (dramatic orchestral music)
60 years later, regretting something that you didn't do.
Can you fathom that?
I walked in to get her, and she was sittin' there crying,
and she had this suitcase on her knees.
And I said "Mamie, what's wrong?"
When she was young and she was, what, 20,
she was born, I think it was in 1908.
So about 1928, she moved to Canada,
and she moved to the Toronto area.
And she met a man there by the name of Leslie John Moore
and she fell in love with him.
So eventually one night, he takes her
out to the Great Lakes, and he gets down on one knee,
and he asked her to marry her.
And she says yes.
So it was a beautiful thing.
So she says she has to go back to Scotland
to get her stuff and tell her family.
So he gives her a suitcase, and it has his initials on it,
says L.J.M., Leslie John Moore.
And she takes the suitcase, and she gets on a boat,
and she goes back to Scotland.
And she tells her mom and her dad
that she is engaged to be married,
and they're all very, very happy.
And then they turn around and the say to her
"Hey, but this guy, is he a Catholic?"
And she says "No, no, no, he's a Protestant."
And at that time, that was a big deal in Scotland.
So Mamie was never allowed to speak to that men again, ever.
The week before she died, I walked in to get her,
and she was sittin' there crying,
and she had this suitcase on her knees.
And I said "Mamie, what's wrong?"
And she said "I was just wondering
"what my life would've been like
"if I'd married Leslie John Moore."
It's inconceivable to me, and I find that regret
is a real problem that we are all
going to have to atone for.
And I find that every single time you say "No, no,
you're right, you're right," and you don't do something.
What you do is you're writing out
a check made to regret.
And that check you're writing for regret,
you will have to pay one day.
One day you will sit there with your grandkids,
and you will have that suitcase with L.J.M. on your knee,
and you will have to ask for forgiveness for yourself
for all the shit you didn't try.
It is far better to live with the regret
of the mistakes you have made
than to die with regret of never having tried.
So you actually have to try.
Yesterday would have been easier.
Tomorrow will be harder.
There is no waiting.
It's not gonna get easier when your kids finish school.
It's never gonna get cheaper.
It's never gonna feel like it's making more sense.
You do it, and you do it now.