“Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien”
Those lines to Edith Piaf’s 1960 hit song—”No, nothing at all/No, I regret nothing”—became her trademark. Many other musicians later offered their own renditions of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” and the song has appeared in many movies and commercials.
But here’s the quandary: Can anyone beyond the age of 12 truly claim to have no regrets?
The answers to that question are yes, no, and maybe.
Some embrace that first affirmative when they adopt “No regrets” as their philosophy of life— “Chuck the past and live in the now!” Yet, the rest of us wonder: Don’t these folks ever wake at 3 in the morning to find their past transgressions parading like ghosts in their mind’s eye?…