Don't regret choices in life; just keep looking forward

June 26, 2009 09:00 pm

— Here are some thoughts from a guy who was in a philosophical mood after a recent visit by PGA pro John Cook to the First Tee of Sharon.
I’ve decided that life is a lot like the game of golf. In golf you have good holes and bad holes, but you move on and don’t look back. You need to focus on the next hole.
It’s the same with life.
We all make decisions when we come to a crossroads in life. Whatever direction you take, don’t look back. Just get ready for the next challenge.
That came to me after talking with Jim Cook — John’s dad — about the different choices he’d made that led his family into golf.
The first choice was a funny one. Jim is married to the former Lyda Neuman of Sharpsville, the identical twin of Carole Barker, the current director of The First Tee of Sharon. Jim met the girls when they were all at Dennison College. Ironically, he said, he first dated Carole, before ending up with Lyda.
Jim had been involved in racing through Firestone Co., where he was employed. He was moving back and forth between Akron and California to do his job, but the company finally transferred him to California.
He questioned if his children John and Cathy would have become so involved in golf and become pros if not for the move. Then of course if not for Firestone, Jim wouldn’t have become tournament director of the World Series of Golf at Firestone Country Club, as well as working with other tournaments, such as the Giant Eagle Classic that was formerly held locally.
Today he’s in the business of helping country clubs that are failing to restructure and survive.
It’s funny how the direction we take at the fork in each road ahead of us changes our lives.
Think of decisions you have made in your life. How would today be different if you had made other choices. Never look back with regret, simply with curiosity.
As a senior in high school I had an appointment to the Naval Academy, but my one eye wasn’t 20-20 and for some reason at the time it was the only academy that required perfect uncorrected vision. Rep. Joe Vigorito told me I could go to Army or Air Force academies if I so chose, but I declined and decided to go to Kent State to wrestle.
What if I had gone to one of the other academies? I might have been retired by now from the military, or I might have been killed in Vietnam.
I was a biology major in college. But after graduating, I chose to come to work at The Herald, rather than pursue a master’s in biology. If I had gone back to school, I might have become part of the exciting genetics movement, which was my favorite field.
Then again I wouldn’t have been able to irritate people with these columns. Now that would have been a real shame.
Good luck to everyone at the next crossroads you reach. Hopefully we all make good decisions each time before we finally putt out.

The Herald’s Lynn Saternow writes this column each Saturday for the Opinion page.

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