When we were children and it happened to us, without realizing it, to plunge into the wrong by our words, our actions or our thoughts, it was not uncommon to hear one of our parents tell us :
You’re not ashamed to say that!
You’re not ashamed to do that!
You’re not ashamed to think that!
There is no doubt that through these little remonstrances, less generating a feeling of guilt than intended to enlighten us on our blunders, we had just followed a propaedeutic in human morality. Perhaps it was necessary to ring the bells in this way to awaken us to the values of respect and courtesy as well as the relevance of good judgment.
Later, having learned from our mistakes, we would learn, as participants in a community, that there are limits we should not cross and that we do not have to cross paths with shame in order to little that we have the following two tools: the ability to take a step back and the modesty to question ourselves.
However, today’s society seems to have lost its limits. Has it entered a phase of regression, insofar as tend to normalize the aggressiveness experienced on a daily basis, hatred and violence on social networks, relational acerbity? Not to mention the insane escapades of giddy boasters, who, from their transgressions, proclaim their pride loud and clear, when they should be ashamed of it.
Shame has always had a negative connotation, but is it time to glorify its effects? It is not unreasonable to suggest that the feeling of shame, in its protective anticipation, can constitute an advantageous brake in the face of certain reproachable behaviors, even if we were to perceive moralizing hints here?
Should we rehabilitate the apprehension of shame today as a safe bet in the offensive to be waged against the furious, irreverent and always “badly influential” spontaneity that stifles respect in favor of insult? Let’s not wait to witness a total reversal of values, where pride will fuel the reprehensible, while the irreproachable will become banal, even almost shameful!