Many years ago I saw a television interview with a very,
very famous man, (now passed on) summarizing events in his life.
He said something that was quite shocking i.e. he told the
interviewer that he had absolutely no regrets about his life, none whatsoever.
I cannot imagine someone so senior, alive on this planet for
so many decades and never having to wake up in the morning cringing upon the
realization that he may misbehaved or had misplaced something during an evening
of celebration (car keys, credit cards, pants).
Didn’t he ever insult every coworker after drinking all the
egg nog at the company Christmas party then pass out on the floor, sans pants,
under the mistletoe.
Has he never brought a large box of vino to the family
Thanksgiving gathering, began talking politics and religion only to find
himself awakening in a cornfield in New Jersey?
The only reasonable explanation is that he developed some
form of senior forgetfulness preventing him from reliving a regrettable past.
I was thinking about “day after regrets” after we celebrated
July 4th recently, our nation’s birthday.
With all those signers of the Declaration of Independence
can we not just assume that at least 1 signer would have awakened on July 5th
with a “My God What Have I Done” moment.
It is actually nice not having any regrets and taking
responsibility for bad behavior. I have
noticed a trend slowly changing our attitude allowing us to remove shame from
our personal integrity. It seems only
those politicians in Asian countries now show remorse for very bad decisions in
their lives.
Newscasts always produce some political type in Japan or
along the Asian ring tearfully begging forgiveness from fellow countrymen for
an egregious act. We watch in anticipation to see if the anguished penitent
will produce a short Hari Kari sword as restitution for what most of us would
consider a minor infraction by today’s standards.
He should come to America. Not only could he teach us
something about personal integrity, he would be such a political oddity that
we’d create a TV reality show for him.
Actually now Americans have ramped-up something called a
“do-over”. We also have embraced another term called “going forward”. Both are cleverly designed to eliminate any
discomfort for being such a screw up.
Politicians and their handlers are majestic in the way they
turn their bad behaviors away from scorn and ridicule to a public just waiting
to embrace and cuddle them like a hurt child for doing something wrong. After
all don’t we all make mistakes? We can’t be too harsh or judgmental. Everyone gets a second chance, a do over so
that going forward they know the error of their ways and can avoid future
pitfalls.
This always seems to work when your party favorite is the
bad dog.
The opposition wants to whack your nose with the newspaper
and banish you to the doghouse.
I know a man, we call him “do-over Bob”, one of the most
intelligent, creative souls on this planet.
Self-taught he is just about the best printer, graphic artist and
computer whiz I have ever known. He is instantly like by almost everyone he
meets but he has one major flaw that always caused a problem for him in his
print business; he could not proofread causing far too many flyers, forms,
letterheads and envelopes to be tossed into the trash bin at a financial loss
for him.
No one ever said “that’s Ok, I’ll accept this garbage and
send it along to my customers so I can look un-professional”. No Bob accepted
responsibility and reran the job to the customer’s satisfaction, and to his
financial loss.
I recall my first financial loss. As an 11 year-old growing
up in Philly we had something that arrived in corner stores each summer, the
“pimple ball”. It was a white hollow
rubber ball with raised bumps thus the name “pimple”.
Before the air was finally extinguished we played street games like stickball, wall ball, wireball, boxball,
handball, curbball and step ball. When
the bounce finally left we cut it in half and played half-ball using your
mother’s broom stick.
One summer day I was practicing my step ball skills on Mrs.
Cumberland’s steps. After I had broken
her window my parents, and Mrs. Cumberland, were both curious as to why I
decided not to practice on home turf, traveling halfway up the block to the
home of a neighbor I hardly knew.
I didn’t get a “do-over”.
There was no “that’s alright, you learned a lesson now going forward……”.
I got punished for being such a lunkhead, banished to my
room and made to make restitution.
It is now time to implement similar practices to our elected
officials if there is ever any hope for real progress.
I don’t suggest the severe measures taken by our friends in
the Far East, but maybe we could send our Senators, Congressmen and
Commander-in-Chief to their rooms until suitable corrective measures can be
taken.
We will get to say things like “Go to the Lincoln bedroom,
Mr. President and think about what you have done. No golf for you”!
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