Will Apologies Ever Be Enough Again?

 

Sorry I have been gone so long, my friends. But with my absence, I come with a surprise new look to my blog. I want to thank my friend, Hilybee for helping me to give my blog a new look, and possible a new attitude. She is the most supportive friend in the world and I am lucky to have her as my friend. You should all check out her new blog, too. Right here

It's been a rather rough couple of weeks. I hope that no one holds it against me. I really didn't mean to be gone for weeks.

And this brings me to the reason I have emerged from my slumber

I was walking through the grocery store the other day. There was a woman in front of me trying to corral her son and turn her shopping cart at the same time. Anyone who has ever had children knows that, at times, doing three things at one time is required but not always suggested. This woman was the example that clarified the rule, because she was not succeeding in doing any of the things she was trying to do.

So as she was spinning her cart around, another person was coming up behind her and trying to go around her. No big deal, but the woman with the cart was still turning, completely unaware of the other person. At least until she almost swung her cart right into the other person. She stopped her cart in time and didn't collide with the other person. She was embarrassed. It was obvious. It had obviously been a rough day and she was clearly feeling bad that she had almost knocked the person off her feet. She apologized profusely.

But the other person responded in a way that I didn't expect.

She gave the lady a dirty look and called her a bitch as she walked away.

Unfortunately I see this reaction more and more often, and of course it got me to thinking...

Is an apology every going to be worth anything anymore?

Have we forgotten that we make them every day?

Suddenly we are all judging people by their actions, but judging ourselves by our intentions.

I am no saint. I am not always right. I know you're all shocked, but try to keep your shock tightly in check. I'm not perfect and either are any of us, so what is the problem, world? Why all the animosity? Newsbreak! We're not Mary Queen of Scots!! Geez. We really need to get over ourselves.

Last night, I was watching a show where Alec Baldwin was talking abot what a famous actor said to him. He said that social media and the press was the "end of forgetting."

The End of Forgetting.

Wow.

The thing is, there are so many offenses and things that have happened to us that we should forget, throw so far away from us we never see it again. "Forgive and forget" was something we learned when we were two, along with "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me." Both of these phrases have been tossed to the wind like so much dust. We don't throw our offenses away. We throw the very things away that help us to deal with offenses.

But why. Are we so afraid to have to accept an apology? Do we have so much pride that we can't receive it? Please don't try to tell me that you are trying to teach the person a lesson or that they'll know now that what they did is not acceptable. Not accepting an apology makes you look like an ass.

I know that everyone wants to look like a badass, badder than old King Kong and meaner than a junkyard dog (Sorry Jim Croce. You can stop rolling in your grave now), but for what reason and where does one draw the line? Why do we all have to be so tough, so unwilling to compromise, so unbelievably arrogant, like our world is the only one in existence and we are somehow perfect, in that microcosm.

Maybe I am being too harsh on the world. What do you think? Should we all just continue to take offense, unwilling to accept apology, telling everyone who apologizes that it isn't enough? That the apology wasn't sincere enough?

Or maybe we can all lighten up, and we can quit taking every little thing we do so frickin' seriously.

What do you all think? Let me know in the comments. Maybe I am off base...or maybe I am one hundred percent on base...give it to me people

And I won't be mad if you don't apologize.