Repair the World
It’s not always possible to rectify a situation. It could very well be too late for “I’m sorry.” However, there are always opportunities for “tikkum olam,” a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world.” This can mean taking your remorse and making good out of it—using any sense of regret to fuel positive actions that work toward goodness. The theme of Khaled Hosseini’s bestseller, The Kite Runner, is about this kind of tikkum olan. I love this passage: “And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father's remorse. Sometimes, I thing everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.”