ABSTRACT
Remorse is not a fashionable concept of our time. That sense of sturdy independence encapsulated in the popular song by Edith Piaf-‘Je ne regrette rien’—is as lauded as if it were the motto of politicians. A little reflection on the meaning of a refusal to regret, as if no mistake were ever made or, if made, brazenly ignored —‘Never apologize, never explain’—might make us realize that such assertions are also potential signs of brutal insensitivity. Independence of mind might be better served by at least a hint of thoughtfulness, of weighing up the costs of experience. Perhaps we live in a time that suffers from the strong belief in selfassertion, and that places learning from mistakes in the same despised category as ‘U-turns’, so dreaded by politicians. The age of self-promotion has little time for reflections or for changes of opinion in the face of new evidence.
