Sisyphean Regret

In the novel "The Great Gatsby," we are able to see the immense regret felt by Gatsby and Daisy for not staying with each other. This is shown many times throughout chapters five and six when Gatsby reminisces about the past and tries to get Daisy back. Daisy also regrets her past, which is shown when she "bend[s] her head into the shirts" and begins to cry profusely (Fitzgerald 92). Daisy regrets not being able to stay with Gatsby and be a part of his seemingly unlimited wealth. Gatsby also seems remorseful of the time he lost with Daisy by commenting that the last time they met was "'Five years next November,'" which illustrates how deeply he cares about Daisy. He has remembered how long it has been since he has last seen Daisy to the month, a task only done by someone who cares very deeply about something (Fitzgerald 87). 

This predicament of the two made me think about my own regrets. As I look back on my young life, even I have found many events and actions that I wish I could change, some that I still strive to change today. I am honestly not comfortable with openly sharing these regrets, just as Gatsby and Daisy aren't, but I think it's very unhealthy to dwell on such things. Unless some scientist finds some conceivable way of altering the past without creating a paradox that destroys time and the vary nature of existence itself, the past is the past. Nothing can be done to change it, because it has already happened. The obvious next resort to fixing the past is changing the future to suit an individual's desires, which is evident by Gatsby trying to get Daisy back into his life. I also believe this isn't a suitable method for getting over the past, because it still shows that you are focused on the past and are only concerned on getting back on the trajectory that your past actions would have went on. Since there are no easy resolutions to this issue, what can we do? Forget the past? Forget our mistakes, our problems, our very life? No. Forgetting our very being is the wrong answer as well. I guess we just have to keep moving forward, not forgetting the past but not dwelling on it either, for humans are trapped in the eternal chain of events where one leads to the next, and nothing can be done to reverse our actions.