Weekly Whine: Sorry

I'm sorry.

Now what's so damn hard about that?

It pisses me off when people won't apologize. Usually someone won't apologize because they believe they're in the right, so why would they apologize?

In high school, there's always one kid in the class who thinks he knows everything and won't shut up. (Sorry to use the male pronoun, but let's face it, it's a guy.) In my 10th grade English class, that kid was a guy named Eric.

One day, he got in an argument/discussion with a girl in the class named Amy. I can't remember the argument, but it finally concluded when Eric got frustrated with Amy and said, "You are the dumbest girl I have ever met in my life."

And Amy ran out of the room crying.

Honestly, I don't remember thinking Eric was wrong in his argument. And I do actually sort of remember thinking that Amy seemed pretty dumb. But what I do remember is this:

Eric refused to apologize.

He couldn't really do that, because he would have gotten in trouble. But when Amy returned to the class, you could see him squirming his way out of genuinely apologizing. Despite being an ass and hurting Amy's feelings, he didn't believe he should apologize. He just said something like, "People shouldn't say things like I just said, so apologizing shouldn't even be an issue." Guh?

If you hurt someone's feelings, just SAY YOU'RE SORRY. Really, what's so goddamn hard about that?

Of course, he was only fifteen. I see adults who do this all the time. I think the world would be a better place if people were more willing to say they're sorry.