Apollo-Gee

My niece has this nasty habit of uttering the word “sorry" for every single thing that she is chastised for. She can go up to 10 “sorry" in a span of half hour, on a really bad day. One fine day, after her 5th one, I dragged her aside and asked her why she thinks that by apologizing, she’s gotten way scot-free? Needless to say, she couldn’t give me an answer. And I don’t blame her cos she’s only turning 6.

Maybe it’s just me with a chip on my shoulder. But I believe that the word sorry should not be taken for granted and strewn a thousand times a day. Yet it seems that everyone else has the mentality and maturity of my young niece there.

To me, the word is a form of apology, and thus should be treated with some form of reverence. It is afterall, an expression of one’s regret or remorse or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured or wronged another.

I’m sorry I’m late.
I’m sorry I can’t make it.
I’m sorry I made this mistake.

As I sit and write this, I cannot help but think back to some people that I know of, who I am close with, who now seem to be as young as my niece is. Cos like her, they throw a "Sorry" one way and go and repeat the same act again, in the not too distant future.

Have we become so superficial that we actually believe that one word, made up of 5 alphabets are enough to communicate or demonstrate that we regret having done something that caused another to be upset?

It’s a situation that I have an issue with and maybe we should all sit and ponder a bit there. Are we behaving like the adults we’re supposed to be? Or are we all behaving like a child, thinking we could get away with murder, just because?

For if you are really regretful for being late, your behavior in the course of the time to follow would communicate in more ways than one sad lil word can do.

For if you are really remorseful for having to cancel, your determination to ensure that the next time round is kept to, would demonstrate that you are contrite for having done so initially.

For while you may behave like a 6 year old, doesn’t mean that the receiving party has the gullibility of a 6 year old as well to believe you.

Don’t forget – say it often enough without any real intention, it becomes just another word heard in the course of a day. And words have a habit of being soon enough forgotten. And so might the same apply to the one doing the uttering.

Eventually they too become nothing and forgotten.