Eesha's Early Excerpt - Power of “Sorry”: (PART 1)

I am confronted with a tennis ball rushing towards me. I try to gather my thoughts, construct and position myself, and swing with all my might. I keep an eye on the ball and watch as it falls just past the baseline. I think to myself, “I didn’t put enough spin”, but I end up screaming across the court, “Sorry!”. This process has come across as routine and normal to myself. Until recently, I had never given my response a second thought. Tonight I sit here pondering, why I say “sorry” and when we should accurately be using the term.

In part one of this piece, I will go over the use of the term and the power it carries. In part two I will go on to extend the impact of its use in certain scenarios, and other situations where it is simply not needed.

The English word, sorry, is an adjective to describe the state of being when you are “feeling regret or penitence”. This word withholds great power. It unites two parties, it brings people back together, it humanizes our people. However, with all its greatness, the term being repeated unnecessarily causes it to lose its value.

Essentially though, why does it matter if it loses value? Well, like I just explained, the word “sorry” carries an enormous amount of value and depth. Like all things, this can easily be tarnished and stolen when unnecessarily used. When this does happen, we are unable to truly express the feeling we emotionally attempt to emit. This leads to lack of communication and understanding. The loss of fundamental components as such can destroy relationships and lead to catastrophic results. While this is considered a “slippery slope” mindset, it's valuable to often view things from a big picture perspective, to avoid getting caught up in the midst of things. Understanding the proper usage of “sorry” eliminates such worry of overusing the term. The overall impact stands to be, we must concern ourselves with such matters before they catch up with us. When can it be classified as unnecessary? When is it the only word that can mend a broken heart?

These are questions that we will cover in part two. If you find this intriguing, come back next sunday and we will develop more on this concept. Together we will dive deeper and uncover these mysteries.