Tuesday, September 1, 2009

wallow away

"The only purpose of guilt is to enable us to recognize the pitfalls of the present so that we can do better the next time, not to wallow in the past."

- from The Fine Art of Living
by Joan Chittister


One thing I saw in all the pictures I found of wallowing animals - utter delight! Look at that smile. To wallow means to roll oneself about in an ungainly manner like this pig - but it also means to take unrestrained pleasure or delight - like this pig. So why do we want to wallow in something like guilt?

2 comments:

Sandy said...

Wonderful etymology!

blessings on your week, lovely lady

Brad said...

Roberta, I love the pig picture. As you know, pigs are very smart animals. They probably find our habits of dress and comfort as problematic as we do theirs. You pose a very good question. My answer - because sometimes we humans get ourselves so programed into a guilt syndrome that wallowing in guilt actually pleasurable. Kinda like having a sharp pebble in your shoe and somehow enjoying the pain. Shame is much healthier than guilt, since it actually helps correct bad actions and then goes away. - Brad