Some of my friends sporadically post really thought provoking status updates on Facebook and, honestly,
sometimes you’re in the mood for introspective and sometimes deep thought just isn’t in the cards. Occasionally, though, a status update will be exactly what you needed to read and such was the case yesterday.
“Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.” –Eleanor Hibbert, British author
Hmmm…. deep thought amply provoked.
Although I agree that the bad was experience which is nearly always valuable, I truly hope those who have purposely wronged others have regret! I would like to believe that given an opportunity to change the course of history, they would use that regret to make better decisions. How many of us have fallen prey to someone else’s bad decision? Wouldn’t it sting just a little more if you knew there was no regret? No anguish or sorrow?
I know that, for me, the bad I cause to others is hugely regretful. I don’t, for one moment, take lightly the burdens I’ve placed on others ~ known and unknown to me. I take slight exception, then, to Ms. Hibbert’s quote… I truly suffer from regret. Possibly, it’s a natural consequence and something we should feel to remind us not to repeat something again.
There is true power in forgiveness and to be forgiven is an amazing thing…but to never regret would mean we would do it all again. I don’t know about you but there are multitudes of bad that I regret ~ some minor and some carry the seriousness of permanent pain lying just beneath the surface.
Was it all part of the experience? Absolutely. But should we not regret our poor choices; especially when they affected our own happiness and the happiness of others? I’m not sure I’d want to ever live with no regrets because that is dangerously close to apathetic, isn’t it?
I guess yesterday I was in the mood for introspective. Anybody got a joke? I could use one today.