The meaning of apologies
Monday, February 1st, 2010
By: Maiken Scott
mscott@whyy.org
Tiger Woods had to do it, so did Mark McGwire, John Edwards and Harry Reid…. they had to make an apology. But – there's lots more to a real apology than saying "I'm sorry". WHYY's Behavioral Health reporter Maiken Scott spoke with psychologists Dan Gottlieb about apologies – what makes them sincere, and how they affect relationships:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I am very disappointed that neither Doctor Gottlieb nor neither of his guests provided addditional analysis as I humbly discuss below as to Hope's question about forgiving those responsible for September 11th.
While the discussion did an excellent job of discussing that act, I found a lack of completeness all too evident in America.
And for me, this lack of extension is what is the root cause of many of the problems America is facing today.
Hope apparently expects the individuals responsible for the vicious and unprovoked attacks to ask forgiveness. But I would ask her if she would equally expect the American government to apogize to the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims of the illegal and immoral war in Iraq?
Those people are just as innocent and just as dead as the passengers on the September 11th flights. I would ask her if she would expect th Amrican governemnt to aplogize for all the innocent deaths caused in Pakistan and Afganistan, including the vicious attacks by Blackwater — America's outsourcer of choice for death and destruction. Again, those peaple are just as innocent and just as dead. Does the fact they are not white and not Americans make their deaths any less important?
Next week's Harper's magazine has the cover story as to how three inocent Arab detainees in Guantanamo were murdered and those horrific acts were covered up by the U.S. military. Should America aplogize for those deaths?
I wonder if part of forgiveness is not a recongition that we [America] is not perfect and America has done some pretty terrible things itself over the years.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Rockenbach