I'm Sorry

Erich Segal's super bestseller LOVE STORY is one of the most memorable books I've ever read. It is simple, poignant, sometimes comic, othertimes bittersweet, but what stuck with me more than 10 years after having read the book was the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry". This was after Jenny and Oliver, the main characters of the book, had a particularly nasty fight which resulted to Oliver's apologizing.

Whether I believe in this or not is another point altogether, but on my own, I prefer to apologize when I know I have done something quite offensive or when I am being particularly impatient and bull headed over something. Somehow, with the words "I'm sorry" begins the process of healing and forgiveness, no matter how serious or senseless the offense was. I know that apologies cannot right certain wrongs, nor can it alter what has already transpired. Therefore if this is the case- what then is the purpose of apologizing? Is it for purely selfish reasons- so that one can rest knowing that he or she has done his or her "role" by apologizing? Or does it carry a much heavier meaning which is not as prominent at the start?

The answer lies in one word and one word only:

PRIDE.

Pride is the source of all conflict in the world. Pride is what caused Adam and Eve to commit the first sin of the human race. Pride has also been recognized by C.S Lewis in his book "Mere Christianity" as the Greatest Sin one can ever commit. I believe that a sincere apology is the conscious recognition of one's pride. It is not at all cowardly to apologize, neither is it demeaning to accept other people's apologies. If anything, it brings us one step closer or one level higher to what we call LOVE.