Remorse

Remorse

By Katherine Reyna

April 13, 2010

The boundaries of actions lay within the individual.  Choices can be made without preparation.  Words are spilled and cannot be wiped up and forgiveness is summoned.  You can throw the paint over the canvas and create.  People do the same as emotions identify each other.  I can give you the definition of remorse, but instead I would like to tell you that from my perspective careful corrections and or God-willing pre-caution is the meaning of remorse.

For example, remorsefulness makes you think of your actions in a condition in which you will learn from the next time rather than repeating the offense again.  Remorse cannot consume you and yet it will bring upon you the actions in which you plan to make or have made already and both type of actions will declare a continuance of corrected actions.  Below is a brief example article of identifying the impact of remorse:

“Sports: R. Lewis Fails to Tackle Remorse

By John Eisenberg | January 24, 2001

TAMPA, Fla. - Ray Lewis had a chance to make the rest of his life a lot easier. All he had to do was give the Super Bowl media what they wanted yesterday. A dash of humility. A pinch of remorse. A pang of regret over his role in the unsolved double homicide that occurred after last year's Super Bowl in Atlanta. He wouldn't do it. "I'm not here to please the country," Lewis said during an hour-long session with reporters at Raymond James Stadium. Too bad. It wouldn't have taken much from him to drain a lot of the emotion from a tragic, volatile issue that lacks resolution and, thus, continues to simmer, casting a shadow over Lewis' on-field magic.”  The Baltimore Sun.

I would like to use the words “corrected actions”  toward  final advised responses based on  contemplation and conduct.  For example,  the young sisters who are playing alone together only one room from their mother began to create conflict when the oldest sister Faith whispers to her younger sister Joy to bite her finger.  Because Faith the older sister knows that Joy the younger sister follows her in all her plots and plans as they play, Faith cries out to the mother and tells on Joy for biting her finger.  Joy is then scolded and was punished for biting her sisters’ finger without any remorse from Faith.

In this identification of siblings although remorse is unseen in the young Faith, it isn’t to say that as she develops in maturity that this memory of her actions will not cause her to act remorsefully later on in life for directing Joy to bite her finger just to watch her mother come over and observe the well-practiced punishments usually driven by misconduct.

A Remorse, No Pity, May 18, 1997

Federal prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty in the Unabom case. The decision, authorized by Attorney General Janet Reno, was made despite arguments that it would be an injustice to relatives who turned the suspect in.

Authorities believe that the suspect in the Unabom case, Theodore J. Kaczynski, killed 3 people and wounded 23 others by mailing bombs to apparently random targets from 1978 to 1995.

Prosecutors in New Jersey and California in virtually identical language said the penalty was justified because the defendant had intentionally and methodically killed and maimed people, shown no remorse and had ''a low potential for rehabilitation.''  New York Times.

I believe that remorse in this situation will bring Faith to apologize and tell the family what she had done that day years ago as children.  Is remorse driven from such actions from everyone and only a few will confess what they will of such actions as Faiths as she took advantage of her younger sisters unconditional love,  trust and loyalty toward her and turned it against her?   Remorse then brings the action of honesty in which creates growth in maturity and success in the individual.  When the remorse is forgiven and can bring a wholesome outcome upon relationships such as with these two sisters, the possibility for enriching long lasting relationships is the inevitable.

“Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or violent. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment. When a person regrets an earlier action or failure to act, it may be because of remorse or in response to various other consequences, including being punished for the act or omission. In a legal context, the perceived remorse of an offender is assessed by Western justice systems during trials, sentencing, parole hearings, and in restorative justice. However, it has been pointed out that epistemological problems arise in assessing an offender's level of remorse.^[1]

A person who is incapable of feeling remorse is often labeled a sociopath (US) or psychopath (UK) - formerly a DSM III condition. In general, a person needs to be unable to feel fear, as well as remorse in order to develop psychopathic traits. Legal and business professions such as insurance have done research on the expression of remorse via apologies, primarily because of the potential litigation and financial implications.” Wikipedia. O'Hear, Michael M. (1996-1997).

Example three of a remorseful outcome:  Let us use the two sisters again Faith and Joy.  They are adults living in Chicago as far as possible from each other, one living way up north near Evanston, IL and the other one living a few blocks east of Michigan Ave. after a living together for one year in a house bought buy their parents didn’t pan out.   While living at home under the rules of mother and father, Faith and Joys living experience together turned out to be a lot harder than they have dreamed of being.

They had different lifestyles, Faith was unorganized, Joy was neat.  Faith liked to read and have quiet time alone, Joy was out late hanging out with friends.  One night the sisters violently fought about the living arrangement, Joy was drunk, and Faith called the police frightened and confused.  Faith moved out the next morning as Joy had ordered a moving service to pick up her older sisters belongings.  Remorse brings these sisters together today together through written letters, weekly text messaging, and short visits between the struggles of work and family matters.  Faith, being older attempts to reach out to her sister more than Joy seems to and sometimes they go see a play together while enjoying dinner with their parents from time to time.  Joy and Faith work with each other in healing from the hurt, and betrayal of their relationship as Joy worked long hours and feels at times she has to take care of her older sister who is working from part-time job to part-time job just to pay her bills and searching for the start of a career for financial freedom and independence.  As these sisters lifestyles conflict they still have found time to forgive and have remorse for each other.  Things may not work out the way they want them to, but through treatment programs dealing with anxiety and substance abuse Faith and Joy know that being happy in what they do is priority for them.

Tears still fill up Faiths eyes when she thinks of that night they fought in the house that was remodeled for them by their parents.  She knows that the core issues of their life are much more important in correcting than the outside misconduct they have long trudged through growing up as two sisters ordinary and just in every way with friends, family, and dreams.  Forgiveness in this case between Faith and Joy is an example of the possible outcome of remorse in a family relationship. 

June 4-10; Remorse Story

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: June 11, 1995

 (Chinese characters), it appears, means never having to say you're sorry.

“After months of debate, Japan's lower house of Parliament passed a resolution last week intended to show remorse for Japan's conduct during World War II. But in the end it seemed to show as much ambivalence as anything. An apology was excised from the draft, because the Liberal Democratic Party, the country's largest, would not support that. Instead, the resolution ended up saying that lots of countries did unpleasant things during the war, and that Japan expresses "hansei" for the things it did.

"Hansei" is a vague term that can mean remorse or reflection or self-examination. It can be used for serious offenses, or for something minor like being late to school regularly.

For Asian countries like South Korea and China, the Parliament's difficulty in expressing contrition meant something more: it was one more sign of Japan's difficulty in coming to terms with its past.” NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF New York Times July 11, 1995.

In conclusion, remorse is an emotion that signifies an individual’s responsibilities and conduct in society.  As in the example above with the two sisters Faith and Joy you can see that remorse is unrestrained by time.  Lessons learned of actions displayed in the examples above provided a glimpse into the development of youth and maturity.  Yet it comes to no surprise to see the misconduct of adults in court for crimes unspeakable without remorse, and the consequences as stated somewhat above in the definition of remorse in opposition to those criminals who have been found to have such an emotion as remorse and practice its value.