Regret

The history books don’t always tell the full truth because in all fairness, the writer has an opinion or at least a point of view, which introduces bias. There are always two sides to any story.

I enjoyed my history lessons, which because of our country’s position in the world, made the British to appear all good and anyone the fought against the British to be all bad. It was plain and simple as far as we were concerned and we were proud of the amount of red on the map which depicted the British Empire/Commonwealth.

History records that European nations, established colonies on distant shores and most often the indigenous peoples were not treated well – in many cases, they were treated abysmally. In recent times some countries have apologised for the poor treatment of their indigenous peoples, a significant expression, but an apology does not really amount to much. Apology signifies regret, but can the government of today be responsible for actions of past governments?

Who does the regretting anyway?  Regret is a truly human emotion for there is no indication that any other animal within nature displays it. Which begs the question, how close to the animal kingdom is man? Homo sapiens sapiens is a classification within the animal kingdom, which according to science, each of us is related to two distant individuals.

Given that we fit into the animal kingdom, we arguably possess similar traits as the rest of the animal world and yet we have developed strategies not to fully display them.

Springtime in the backyard causes the thrush and blackbird to whistle their merry tunes. They are not doing it for the pleasure of mankind, nor are they doing it to signify any particular happiness - they are doing it to attract a mate and to warn off potential competition. They will fight if they have to – not to the death, but there are some animals that die as a result of injuries sustained in dominance competition.

Animals display no regret for their actions – imagine a lion regretting the death of a gazelle. For food or procreation animals will take advantage of the sick, the crippled, the young or the aged.

Recent research has revealed that indeed the early Homo sapiens interbred with the Neanderthal, leaving, depending on your particular family tree, 1 – 2.5% of your gene makeup as Neanderthal.  So we all have a little caveman within us.

Whatever caused our elevation from run-of-the-mill animal creatures to the complex beings that we are today, we possess the ability to suppress our natural urges and utilise the emotions that have developed within us.

Regret can dwell on the mind evidenced by a man who stopped me on the street to apologise for his actions in an employment dispute that I had long forgotten. This man had just a short time to live and wanted to clear his conscience.

So if we go back to one of the despised people in history, Hitler, the atrocities committed under his leadership were many, but not necessarily performed by him personally. Did he commit suicide because he regretted his actions, or because he didn’t want to face trial? Either way, a fragment of conscience must have wheedled its way into his mind.

Likewise, how did his henchmen, even very minor, live out their lives with the knowledge they had been complicit in the atrocities? Was there a shred of regret?

Of course Hitler’s cronies were by no means on their own, throughout history conflict, killings and atrocities have plagued the civilised and especially the not-so-civilised – most often with no regret or remorse.

Did Bloody Mary have any regrets about all those religious burnings? Did the guy lighting the tinder have a hint of remorse? History does not really tell us but if by some remarkable quirk, a search of ancestry reveals that you were related to the tinder-lighter, would you feel guilt, remorse, or would it be something to crow about?

Does anyone wonder [or care] what the history books will say about 2015 and its citizens, the response to the challenges? How will they record cyber bullying? And what about climate change? In a hundred years’ time there will be different attitudes, will future generations believe we sat on our hands over the major issues?

How will we be judged on the response to the refugee crisis, the response to the terrorist bandits who caused it all, those who were complicit and those who did nothing?

Will ancestors not yet born curse us for our lack of action and for leaving the world devoid of resources and full of waste?

But wait, there is another trait up the proverbial sleeve of mankind, something unique, valuable and empowering. Hope – even for the most desperate.