There is a definite distinction between an apology and a confession. Both show remorse, but only in an apology do you seek external forgiveness. A confession, by contrast, is an attempt to allow yourself to make peace with whatever you did and forgive yourself. When somebody goes to a religious confession, they are looking for the priest to absolve their own guilt under the guise of seeking God's forgiveness.
I believe that there are a lot of times where confession is selfish. Ignorance is bliss. If somebody doesn't know something, then informing them just to get rid of your own guilt is not the right thing to do. People say that honesty is always right, but being honest just to make yourself feel better is wrong. Confession is only the right thing to do if it will help both parties (the confesseé and the confessor)
In situations such as the medical malpractice, it rarely helps anybody to confess their mistakes after the fact. The patient will lose confidence in their doctor and the doctor could get sued or lose their medical license. For a physician to confess through his writing to having sewed a patient's earlobe to the bed was beneficial to nobody.
I agree with your distinction between confessing and apology. I think you bring up an interesting point about how sometimes confessing can be selfish, like when it cannot change what has been done. That thought never came to my mind.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you described the difference between an apology and a confession. And I think you're opinion on how a confession is selfish is interesting. I do agree with it, but I also think that in some cases a confession is necessary. Sometimes it's important to reveal the truth even if it may hurt people. There's nothing wrong with getting guilt off your chest.
ReplyDeleteHi, John, I think you did a really nice job opening your post. You started with a clear main idea/opinion, and you second sentence did a great job of showing an apparent similarity between confession and apology, followed by the clear difference you see between the two. You succeed in making us suspicious of the intentions behind confession, even in the religious practice (I especially liked "under the guise of"). Nice work.
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