Retrospection

I advocate living a life without any regret. That's not to say that we can't acknowledge our mistakes of the past. Instead of wishing we had done differently, we should just do better the next time.

True regret doesn't accept the lessons of the past. It's a futile wish to roll back time and do it over again. It's overly reductive and that do over may or may not make you better than you were before. And even if we could go back and change one thing, it can undo so much else.

To regret is to be so unhappy with your current self that you will roll the dice again and hope to find yourself in a better place. My pride doesn't let me go that far. But that's the special power I have.

The types of people who live with regret can be the most resentful miserable people to be around. They live backwards, not in the moment or forwards. They are angry stillborn types who sap you for all your lifeforce.

Sometimes we have to learn life's tough lessons in order to harden our psyche for the next challenge.  

ALFREDO:
Don't come back any more, don't think about us, don't turn round, don't write, don't give in to nostalgia. Forget us all. If you can't hear it and come back, don't come looking for me, I won't let you into the house,   you understand?

SALVATORE:  
Thanks for all you've done for me.  

ALFREDO:
Whatever you do, love it like you loved that projection booth of the Paradiso when you were little...

ELENA:  
What difference does it make to find  an explanation? That's the way it  went. But Alfredo didn't betray you,  he was the only one who really  understood you. Salvatore, if you had  chosen to be with me, you'd have  never made your films. And that would  have been a pity! Because they're  wonderful, I've seen them all.   (Her eyes glitter with  joy, then she smiles,  almost ironically.)  

SALVATORE :
This afternoon. Elena, in the future  maybe we could...

ELENA:  
No, Salvatore...there is no future.  There's only the past. Even meeting  last night was nothing but a dream, a  beautiful dream.  

We never did it when we were kids, remember?

Now that it's happened, I don't think  there could have been a better  ending.