Could you tell me a time you felt regret?

I walked into the lobby of the library to pick up a book I’d put on hold. There was a kid sitting nearby, maybe high school aged. He had those glasses that transition from light to dark and the faint shadow of a mustache. His skin was scattered with pimples and he wore sweatpants that were just a hair too short. He had a stack of fantasy novels and kept his eyes down as I walked past. 

I felt a twinge of superiority that can arise without realizing it. It was summer, I was tan and fit and had just finished a long run through the parks and town trails. The rest of my day was filled up—I was being interviewed for an outdoor magazine, then had dinner plans with a group of friends before leaving for a weekend camping trip. I noticed the kid alone on the bench, but I didn’t try to smile or make eye contact. 

He was still on the bench when I walked out, stopping to let an elderly, stooped man through the door. As he took a step into the lobby, his legs buckled and he sprawled with a sickening thud, facedown onto the tiles. 

As I stood frozen, the boy launched up from the bench, knocking his books to the ground and running to where the man lay three feet in front of me. The kid crouched next to the man and started helping him up, putting his hand under his elbow and steadying him as he got shakily to his feet. He walked the man to the bench and then ran around the lobby, collecting the books and newspaper pages that were scattered around my feet. I still hadn’t moved. 

He then helped the man into the library, guiding him by the arm and leaving him with the woman at the reception desk before going back to sit quietly on his bench. 

I pushed my way out of the lobby, fighting back tears. This kid, the one who I’d felt instinctive superiority over, had immediately sprinted across the lobby to help someone who had fallen right at my feet. I had stood immobile, staring at the old man sprawled on the floor. 

Regret, no matter the circumstance, is one of the most difficult emotions to reconcile. It means you wish you’d done something differently. This five minutes in the library happened seven years ago, and I still regret not being the kind of person who helped an old man when he hit the floor, and for feeling superior to the person who did.