Prematurely Regretful?

By coincidence yesterday, I read two articles on regret, the first early in the morning on a 5:30 subway train, the second late in the evening at 8:30 on my sofa. But who cares for such concrete details? The sequence could just as well have been reversed, right? Actually, no, the two came to me in the better sequence. No regrets about that.

I first read Kim Seong-kon's "James Bond and older men's wisdom, knowledge" (Korea Herald, November 14, 2012, p. 15). Here's his photo, from the Korea Herald:

And here's his opening paragraph, which I found more fitting for me than for him:

As I grow older, I begin to look back upon my past with remorse and regret. During my lifetime, I must have done . . . a few good things . . . . Sadly, however, I . . . can only think of all the mistakes I have made, whether unwittingly or intentionally. Full of regrets, I often whisper to myself silently, "I shouldn't have done that. How could I have been such an imbecile?"

I seriously doubt that Professor Kim is an imbecile, for I've met him and he makes a good impression. Not that my judgment is unimpeachableable, given that I have so often been such an imbecile, much to my regret.

But I need not despair, for the second article, Erica Brown's "Time to get your regrets right" (International Herald Tribune, November 14, 2012, p. 9), offers advice . . . but first her photo, from the The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington:

Erica Brown

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

According to Ms. Brown, regret grows as death nears:

In the course of research for a book on death and how to overcome fear of mortality, I spent years speaking to dying individuals and their families. The notion, famously attributed to Samuel Johnson, that nothing concentrates the mind like imminent death jumped off the page again and again as I conducted my research. Imminent death often occasions self-reflection and, with it, disappointment and remorse.

As I have so many regrets but am only 55, I must be prematurely regretful. Death could be fast approaching! How frightening! What to do? Her advice: Use index cards. How? By writing down some regrets:

Regret is an essential part of repentance in Jewish law, and, as a Jewish educator, I find myself thinking about regret each year before Yom Kippur. As part of my research into the subject this year, I handed out index cards to my students from age 18 to over 80, and asked them to list a small regret and a large regret.

That's the depressing part, especially since I've just written my regret: "I regret that death may be fast approaching." But not to despair, for one also writes down a way to transform one's regret into something positive:

I have saved my index cards. I asked the original holders of the cards to flip them over and write down one thing they could do to improve how they live. You can't eliminate a regret, but you can transform one. Imagining a way to fix the future was easier than most students thought and provided a better, more realistic life solution than invincibility. It offered a sliver of optimism. I am keeping the cards because they remind me that death may be around the corner.

I don't know how this advice about fixing the future applies to my mortal regret since death is precisely what might be lurking just around the corner. One of those big convex traffic mirrors for seeing ahead would be more useful! But perhaps I just have to deal with my regret like a man of classical antiquity. Write something classic and leave behind a great name. But for that, I'd need more index cards. I regret not having bought more, but there's a shop just around the corner . . .