Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Have we forgotten how to apologize?

Congressman Pete Stark has evidently indulged what has become a fine art among politicians; the "non-apology" to "those who might have been offended." Sadly, it's prevalent among people on both sides of the political aisle, and I have to wonder; have most people lost the art of the true apology; to admit that their behavior was not only perceived as rude, but that it was wrong on an objective scale.

I have to wonder whether relativism and postmodernism have become so pervasive, that the very concept of saying "what I did/said was wrong, it was cruel, and I'm asking your forgiveness" becomes foreign to us.

Scariest of all, I've seen it in the church. The very institution God created to spread the good news of forgiveness for sin falls into the trap of ignoring sin's reality. Yikes.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If anyone is offended by my inability to take responsibility for what I've said, I apologize, and hope you will just get over it so I can get back to work. (/ministry/serving the public/being the best player I can be.)

Shawn said...

...i've often wondered, after hearing an apology, if the unheard aside is "that you feel that way".

"I'm sorry [that you feel that way]."

Shawn said...

also...especially in a church, secondarily so in a relationship, "i'm sorry" seems to be the eject handle to a crashing conversation.

imfreenow.blogspot.com said...

Sorry, I didn't put you on my blogroll sooner.

Bike Bubba said...

As if I, with no blogroll at all, can judge you for that. :^)

(and thank you, dear sister...I'll get off my duff one of these days and get this done, too)