How Many Ways Can I Say I'm Sorry?
Monday, Sept. 04, 2006 at 9:06 a.m.
On this day in 2004, During a campaign stop in Naperville, Illinois, Presidential candidate George W Bush turns to running mate Dick Cheney and says, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times." Cheney responds, "Oh yeah, he is, big-time." Unbeknownst to the men, their comments are transmitted clearly to the television news feed. Rather than offer a mea culpa to Clymer, Bush later issues this non-apology: "I regret that a private comment I made to the vice-presidential candidate made it onto the public airwaves. I regret everybody heard what I said."
Heh heh heh heh.
Note how he says, �I�m sorry that you all heard that�, and not �I�m sorry that I said that.�
Because there is a big difference! Which irritates me quite a bit � not just the president and Bush in this case � but the gen pop at large. Have you ever noticed that no one seems to really apologize anymore? Most of the apologies I�ve heard lately are said in such a way that the �apologizer� is merely saying, �Yeah, I�m sorry that you�re an idiot, but meanwhile, I�m going to take no responsibility for myself.�
I remember one time, I got annoyed with a friend. We were both leaving a parking lot at the same time, and I was turning right, and she was turning left. She had a tall mini-van that I couldn�t see around, so I crept forward in my car to attempt to see around her. Well, she kept creeping forward along with me, continuing to block my view. Well, I got irritated and gave her a look, and she laughed and made her turn. The next time I saw her, she said, �Oh, Valkyrie, I saw that I made you mad when we were leaving yesterday, and I�m sorry. But it was fun.�
My response? �In that case, I do not accept your apology.�
You should have heard the ass-ripping I got for that! She still won�t speak to me. I couldn�t believe it. In my mind, what she told me was the equivalent of saying to someone you�ve just punched in the nose, �Oh, I was just kidding.�
Yes, I get indignant over strange things, in the big scheme of things, I suppose. But then, going back to president Cheney, how do you apologize for shooting someone in the face? That�s not covered in Emily Post.
And someone needs to apologize for this:
Oh, eek!
I�m probably way too uptight. Perhaps I should participate in yoga:
But can I do the Irish asanas instead?
*hic!*
Happy Labor Day, kiddos. I hope you all get a chance to relax and slip around a beer. And practice your yoga.