Bridge Over Troubled Water

El Condor Pasa

El Condor Pasa


[A song playing over the bar's sound system comes to an end as the pan flute's final notes fade out]

"That was Simon and Garfunkel, right?"

When he didn't get a reply right away, Rick looked at the bartender.

"Steve?"

"Sorry, Rick. Yeah - it's El Condor Pasa. I really love that pan flute, and the lyrics always get me thinking."

"About...?"

"The song's title means 'the condor passes', and so does time. If I had to do it all again, would I do anything differently? We've all probably given that a thought or two during the course of our lifetime. I would definitely change some of the more trivial things, although at the time, the impact seemed anything but trivial. For example, I would've paid more attention to the time cards flipping over one after another during a high school book report and just sat down, instead of rambling on for who knows how long to my great embarrassment. Having (hopefully) learned my lesson, I would have passed on running for Class Secretary, thereby sparing myself a most humiliating campaign speech in the auditorium before a less than friendly audience. Life as a teen is tough enough, without enduring stuff like this."

"Ouch!" Rick commiserated. "Yeah, I've had to do some public speaking and didn't care for it at all. I never got booed or heckled, but I'd rather have been almost anyplace besides in front of that group or crowd."

"I also wish I'd spent more time practicing my high school Spanish with my mom and dad, so that my current fluency level would be better than such linguistic basics as "the pen is blue." On the very much plus side, I'd be able to communicate a whole lot better with almost everyone on my mom's side of the family. However, this would have been a two-edged sword: exhibiting fluency in Spanish at the Army Recruting Office would have completely altered the trajectory of my military career. I also would have changed my career path, had I pushed for attendance at my Basic Noncommissioned Officer leadership school, rather than eventually being required to go by virtue of a change in Army policy. I completed the course, which was never a real concern, and was selected for the Advanced NCO school for my military specialty the next year, something that would likely have happened earlier. Both these events would have changed the course of my career, and it's hard to imagine things working out better than they actually did, so there you go. My personality and natural inclinations being what they are, though, I may have considered requesting the first school, but probably wouldn't have actually done it."

"That's pretty reflective, Steve."

"Oh, that's not the half of it. If I start thinking about it someplace quiet, I really dive into the 'what ifs'. If I had retired from the Army sooner, would I have gotten the same job? Would we have lived in the same places? Would the girls have gone to the same schools, made the same friends, married the same partners? Not a clue. To borrow a phrase from Tom Hanks in Apollo 13: "You never know what events are going to transpire...", but I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out."


[WC: 546]

Lyrics ▼

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail
Yes, I would
If I could
I surely would

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
Yes, I would
If I could
I surely would

Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world its saddest sound
Its saddest sound

I'd rather be a forest than a street
Yes, I would
If I could
I surely would

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet
Yes, I would
If I only could
I surely would

Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world its saddest sound
Its saddest sound