Sorry; No, Not Sorry

As I was walking to get breakfast the other morning, a girl loudly exclaimed "sorry!" to a man working on disconnecting some outdoor tables. Thinking that something had gone wrong, he started panicking a bit, when the girl explained that she had simply stepped by one of these chords. This is a word is tragically overused today, to the point it no longer has the same implications. The girl really meant to say "excuse me" because she had really just wanted to make known her presence. Like this girl, I've caught myself mumbling sorry walking past someone, reaching around someone to get a paper towel in the bathroom, and even skittishly walking through a door that is being held ajar. In each of these cases I had done absolutely nothing wrong, yet I felt that my actions were so imposing as to warrant an apology, which clearly they hadn't. This is the important part. It's easy for people to forgive someone of actions that were not harmful or imposing in the least, and therefore, "I'm sorry" begins to lose a whole lot of meaning. Because people are saying "I'm sorry" for actions they aren't really sorry for, it becomes harder to accept this phrase as a truthful expression of repentance. It's something to think about the next time you are having trouble accepting this as an apology.

Signed,
EJS