An Apology Apology
I'm Sorry
I've heard too many non-apology apologies in my time: "I'm sorry the situation arose," "I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt," "I'm sorry for this misunderstanding." All these include the word "sorry," but don't actually say that the person recognizes that they did something wrong. Which is the essense of an apology. To recognize that you've done something wrong, and regret your acts. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." "I'm sorry I insulted you." Those are apologies.
So while I'm a little pissed at Mel Gibson for his anti-semitic, drunken tirade, and his newly-outed anti-semitic beliefs—in vino veritas—I must admit that the man knows how to apologize:
I've heard too many non-apology apologies in my time: "I'm sorry the situation arose," "I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt," "I'm sorry for this misunderstanding." All these include the word "sorry," but don't actually say that the person recognizes that they did something wrong. Which is the essense of an apology. To recognize that you've done something wrong, and regret your acts. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." "I'm sorry I insulted you." Those are apologies.
So while I'm a little pissed at Mel Gibson for his anti-semitic, drunken tirade, and his newly-outed anti-semitic beliefs—in vino veritas—I must admit that the man knows how to apologize:
August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.
I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.
The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.
I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.
I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.
This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It’s about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.
