What a SORRY Can Do??

You Should be SORRY

When you apologize to someone — and really mean it — it’s because you have stopped to think about how the person may have felt because of what you did or said. When you stop to think about the other person’s feelings, you begin to feel sorry for your behavior. You might even feel embarrassed or ashamed if you did something that you knew was wrong.

Even if what happened was an accident or you did something you didn’t mean to do, you would probably still feel sorry if you knew the other person’s feelings were hurt. After apologizing, you might feel a little better (the other person probably will, too). When you apologize in a caring way, you can feel good because you are trying to make things right again.

Your Sorry Can FiX Everything

Saying I’m sorry when you need to is the right thing to do. It does a lot of good. But by itself, it might not be enough to make everything all better again. Sometimes along with an apology, a person needs to fix the mistake or say they will try to do better. Sometimes doing a nice thing for the person after you apologize helps show that you really are sorry and want to be friendly again.

Sometimes a heartfelt “I’m sorry” fixes everything right away. Other times, it might take a while for someone to feel friendly after you apologize. You might need to give the other person some time. Even after you say you’re sorry, you might still feel bad about what you said or did — but you can feel good about apologizing and about making up your mind to do better.

When someone apologizes to you, you might not feel like being friendly again right away. Once in a while, if a person doesn’t change, you might not want to be friends anymore. You might feel relieved and glad that the other person apologized and admitted being wrong. But if someone keeps behaving in mean ways or does something that keeps hurting, you might not feel the same way anymore. Just because someone apologizes to you doesn’t mean you have to be friendly again. That part is up to you.