I know speaking for myself I have apologized for things I wasn’t sorry for. Who hasn’t really, in order to help make someone you car about feel better or because you knew it was the “right” thing to do?
From a young age we are groomed to say the words “I’m sorry” when someone else is upset, regardless of our true personal opinions. In fact I believe most instances where I’m sorry is warranted and said, the individual is only truly sorry for getting caught. Am I making any sense here?
Now I can only speak for the 18 years I have been alive, but I am going to assume this issue is not anything new. It seems that the phrase “I am sorry” has developed a different intention from it’s true meaning. In the dictionary the phrase is defined as, feeling regret or compunction. While the true intention of most individuals is to either to say I am sorry you are hurt or I am sorry you found out.
So the next time you are in a situation and you feel the urge to utter the words I’m sorry over and over again to make your case, stop and think is this what I truly mean to say. If not there are hundreds of words in the English language to choose from to better rhetorically express what you mean. Because as I am sure we all can relate, worse than not hearing I’m sorry when you feel it is warranted is hearing I’m sorry and knowing it was not meant.
I actually hate when someone says I am sorry to me. Those words have lost all meaning it is like you have to say it regardless of wheter or not you actually feel it. I try to come up with other ways to apologize, but sometimes habit takes over.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you too, people over use it and I think that it has lost a lot of it's meaning. I feel like, "I'm sorry" has been reduced to just common things, if you bump into someone for example. But for truly hurtful situations, it doesn't mean anything to me anymore, they're just words.
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