Exit Stage Left

Does anyone else compulsively read Craigslist's Missed Connections in the hopes that someone might be searching for them? I've already had a rather unpleasant MC experience (it was completely my fault, too) so why in the world would I be massochistic enough to try to do that again? At any rate, reading the postings every day is a guilty pleasure of mine. I'm amazed at how many close calls there are at Starbucks. What the hell? Why couldn't I have had any of those in my seven years of service behind the counter?

I know of several people who read missed connections in one carnation or another on a pretty regular basis. I wonder if we all have this secret fantasy that we're *just* missing out on bliss by one lapse in judgment. If we'd just opened our mouth and said "hi" or smiled in a certain way. What if we bought their coffee, or wrote our phone number on a napkin... What if? So, instead of being adventurous and taking a risk we hide behind our keyboards late at night, secretly hoping that our "missed connection" will show its face, but on some level being relieved that we haven't had to step outside of our comfort zone.

Maybe I've inadvertently tied all this back to that last post about regret. The overreaching sentiment from everyone I've talked to on this topic is that most of us would rather live with the regret of things we've done, rather than things we neglected to do. If that's the case, then why is it sometimes so hard to convince yourself to step outside of your bubble and be bolder?