At various, often repetitive stages during life, everyone will at some point have to endure the torments of embarrassment and humiliation.  It’s sad but true, there is simply no way to avoid embarrassment in its many shapes and forms.  Whether it’s a loving hug and kiss from mom in the school parking lot (I regret to say that I am frequently subjected to this torture) or someone politely pointing out to you that your fly is open, or a little more info about the “birds and the bees” by an uneasy father, embarrassment and the tomato complex that proceeds it is inevitable.

However, this is not necessarily detrimental in every way.  As with any powerful and overcoming emotion, embarrassment exists for a reason (citation: a fascinating book, “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins).  The question of course is: what could possibly possess evolution to allow such a ludicrous emotion to survive?

I think that the answer to this lies with the answer to many of the other emotions that are perceived as “negative” (such as regret, remorse, sorrow and so forth), namely that these emotions act as inspiration for the enhancing of personal attributes in the effected area.  If we take the example of the guy getting his open zipper pointed out to him, will he not take greater care and effort to ensure that after future visits to the lavatory, he will always emerge decent? Or, if someone is ashamed by a disappointing mark in a piece of school work, will the embarrassment not provide incentives for them to put in greater effort in following studies?

I believe that it will. 

Although the examples provided here are trivial or at best jovial, the principle should be picked up on and applied to future situations in life where there is often a lot more than dignity at stake.

In essence, what I’m saying is that when disappointment or embarrassment strikes, we must not simply go sit in a corner and mope about it. Rather take steps to prevent similar situations from ever happening again. That way, when we are confronted by the prospect of failure, we can well and truly learn from our past mistakes, to ensure success in the future.