A man clinging to a tree during a tsunami grabs a five-year-old girl from hotel debris as the wave destroys everything around them. In that moment facing death, he feels crushing regret about how little he's done with his life, and wonders if he could have been more.
I was on the beach, I was hanging in a tree almost being swallowed by this deadly tsunami wave devastating everything on its way around me. Hundreds of people were yelling, trying not to drown or to escape from the collapsing building that was caused by the earthquake that happened just a few minutes before. So I was in the tree holding the trunk on one side, on the other side I was holding a five year old girl that I rescued from the debris of the hotel behind. The tsunami was coming so fast. I remember looking at this little girl in the eyes and she looked at me so terrified. I was like, it's gonna be all right. In my mind I was just thinking, you liar, we're gonna die. And when I had this moment thinking, oh this is the last moment of my life was that it was that everything I could be or do and I knew the answer. I could have done so much more. I could have been so much more.
