Least Said, Soonest Mended

This picture was taken at Newton Lake during Fall of last year.  I am about three weeks away from getting my camera back...I have missed taking pictures!

In the last few weeks I have been on the receiving end of an apology, and boy do I owe one to someone...so I have been thinking about the right and wrong way to say 'I'm sorry'.  I have come to the conclusion that the worst way to apologize is to use the word BUT in the apology.  

When I received the apology, the person that apologized said that she was sorry, but then proceeded to justify what she did in such a manner that by the end of it, well... what was said to me was worse than what she had originally apologized for.  I felt like I needed an apology...for the apology!  

Now it is my turn to offer an apology to someone.  I was in the wrong.  I told someone off, but good!  I said things that needed to be said, but the manner in which I said them was inexcusable.  I knew I was in the wrong the minute the words came flying out of my mouth.

I rehearsed in my mind what I intended to say to this person...that I was sorry BUT...and proceeded to rationalize what I said and why I said it.  It came to me that by doing that I was making the apology about me, when it should have been all about the person that I had wronged.  Now, I am not saying that I cannot explain at a calmer time why I had the meltdown, I am just saying that I think that when you are saying you are sincerely sorry for something, the apology should stand alone.  Period.  No ifs, ands and BUTS about it!

There is an old saying that 'the least said, the soonest mended'.  I think that when it comes to an apology, those are words to remember...better yet, put that saying into practice as a general rule, and you will have to spend a lot less time offering apologies for what has come flying out of your mouth!  DLB