In his interview with the Times of Malta (May 18), regarding his new book One Day when I am  Younger, Jacob Burak said : “I focus more on regrets in this book: the people we didn’t approach, the ones we didn’t dance with, the ones we turned down.”

My only regret – which I recall only on rare occasions – has to do with a few missed opportunities for sexual encounters while I was living in Toronto in my 30s and 40s. I let these opportunities pass me by because I didn’t try hard enough or because I didn’t take the initiative. Apart from this, I have no regrets. My heart soars when I listen to Edith Piaf singing: “Non, rien de rien... Non, je ne regrette rien” (Nothing... I regret nothing).

One of the best decisions I ever made in my life was to quit the Catholic Church 50 years ago. After I left the Church, I felt an integration of personality, and I felt whole. Since then, I’ve been sin-free and guilt-free.

Together with the playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe: “I count religion but a childish toy, and hold that there is no sin but ignorance.”