ABSTRACT
We might readily agree that guilt must go. It’s a most unpleasant feeling and can often cost us dearly in the sleep department. Is it craziness to say it can be a good thing? I don’t think so. Similar to other emotions, guilt has a very positive purpose. The purpose of guilt is to make us aware of wrongdoing and the resultant problems in relationships. Because it is such an unpleasant feeling, guilt is also a strong motivator. Unfortunately, many of us are self-centered enough that we wouldn’t always take care of unpleasant business such as correcting wrongs we’ve done if we weren’t motivated to feel better-in other words to say good-bye to guilt. Becca Cowan Johnson (1996), also points out that guilt can be both a fact and a feeling. She states,
Guilt is what we should experience when we do something wrong. It is a behavior-correcting device. Guilt feelings are what we experience when we think we’ve done something wrong. That is, we may experience guilt feelings both when we have and when we haven’t done anything wrong. (p. 27)
Sometimes we feel guilty when we actually haven’t done anything wrong. It’s only a perception, or maybe it has been insinuated by others that we should feel guilty about something. There are also instances in which the basis for our guilty feelings changes. For example, there was a time when girls were told they should feel guilty if their skirts were short enough to show ankle. Or boys were told it was wrong and therefore worthy of guilt, if their hair touched their shirt collars. Women who dressed like men with pants and shirts would go to hell for sure!
