Sorry

[123everton]

Why do so many people struggle to say sorry nowadays?
When did it become a sign of weakness to apolgise?
The Gordon Brown thread is my inspiration for this post, but, I'll offer up a simple situation which has happened to me in the past.
You're driving down the road when another car pulls in front of you and cuts you up.
You sound your horn and offer up some expletives just as you're about to use some hand signals that aren't shown in the highway code the other driver puts their hand up to say sorry.
You go from anger to humilty in a heartbeat.
I've seen the same situation, with myself and others, were the other drivers gone eff off and it's escalated.
Are we all supposed to be Gods and Monarchs now, beyond reproach?

[David Black]

This story is about the only thing that puts Gordon in a good light.

The chap is near blind but takes the time to write a proper letter and The Sun slags him of.

[123everton]

I agree D.B, but how do you feel about the wider use and acceptance of apologies?

[grasscarp]

I sometimes wish there was a little "sorry" sign in the car that you could light up when you have done something awful when driving.

[Ankou]

for some people they are so incensed by the 'action' that no apology is good enough.
sometimes even if you say sorry often people will keep harping on or haranguing you for something ...more ?

[123everton]

That's true Ankou, but what do they want blood?
The reality of it is you don't know (as a rule) the other party, so you don't know how their going to react.
I just feel if you're in the wrong that you should just do the decent thing and say sorry.
If your apology is not accepted, then that's their problem.

[LoftyLottie]

I tend to be the stupid sort of person that says sorry to people even when it's their fault.

[Sachs]

Hi 123,
'sorry seems to be the hardest word' We're all human aren't we. We can all be hurt by anothers actions. I've said sorry many times & meant it.

[grasscarp]

There was a joke about a test for foreigners to see if they could become British. If someone knocks into them and they say sorry they have passed.

[str]

It's not only saying sorry that seems to be difficult for people to say - how about please, thank you, excuse me, after you etc etc. Manners in general seem to be non existent and courtesy seems to have become a forgotten thing. IIs a sad (and angry ) world we live in and polite people seem to be the minority.

[123everton]

I think most people are still polite, I'm always rude to people who are rude to me, trouble is, they don't notice.
That's just normal to them

[rojash]

A few years ago I came up with the idea of an LED display for the rear window, with a minimal number of messages that could be displayed: "Sorry", "Please dip your lights", "Thank you", etc.
I never got around to doing anything about it, and some time after that I saw an advert for just such a device. I think the biggest problem would be that if it caught on, within a few days the net would be full of hacks to allow you to reprogram it with abusive messages. I'm afraid to say that I think most drivers enjoy being abusive, knowing that they are in a position to do it anonymously and with impunity.

[grasscarp]

Rojash, if someone has nearly collided with you due to the fact you tried to pull out without seeing them, and they have now gone past, a rear view apology would be no use. I was thinking of an apology light mounted on your roof!

[rojash]

grasscarp, you're right, of course. The answer in that particular cas would be to chase them at high speed, tailgate them until they were intimidated into letting you pass, then cut in front and flash your sorry light at them.

And, just in case ahmskunnirt is reading this - it's a joke :-)

[Seadragon]

I went driving around a small roundabout and then started to speed up and found myself fairly tight behind another driver. He immediately applied his brakes and got out of his car and started shouting at me that he can drive at any speed he wants and I was pressurizing him. I found it difficult to keep my face straight and not burst out laughing as I replied to him 'You can't do that! You can't just stop in the middle of the road like that!' What was funny is that all the other drivers behind me who were now overtaking into the other lane and around our cars, blared their horns and some stuck their middle fingers up at the guy as they drove past.

The guy got into his car and continued driving much to my amusement at around the speed of 25 mph and then turned right. It never occured to me for one moment to apologise. The guy had forfeited that once he took the highway code into his own hands. I just thought - 'What a prat? Endangering people like that? Stopping in the middle of the road within any hazard lights?'

Generally though I'm an apologising person and I do think that people don't apologise enough.