Blanket Apology

Don't you think we use the word, sorry, an awful lot? I'm not saying we abuse it. I'm saying that we are pretty limited in our vocabulary when it comes to offering apologies and condolences. I mean, how many times do we say it flippantly when we don't really need to say it, and hold it in when we truly should say it. And then how about the times when no amount of words or eloquence could match an occasion, like at a funeral. Somehow saying sorry for dropping somebody's jacket by accident does not measure up to saying sorry for somebody's loss in the death of a loved one.

At the checkout in a grocery store, the clerk drops your change. Whoops, sorry!, she says. In the waiting room at the hospital, the doctor comes out to tell you the bad news: your loved one did not make it through the surgery. I'm sorry, she says. We use the same word for both situations. Somehow words are just not enough. And yet we're using the same word for both situations. There is a world of difference between the two uses of this word, sorry. Sorry. When have you ever truly been sorry? The Merriam-Webster describes the word as feeling sorrow, or regret. One word. Two totally different situations. The one word does not do our life experiences justice. How funny it is that we use the same word in both situations.