I'm Sorry.

When I was still in the game of teaching, there's something my scholars always did.

Anytime one offends another, he or she quickly says "sorry" before the offended person even comes to report.

The offended person: Miss, Bella pinched me.

Me: Bella why did you pinch her?.

Bella: Miss, I've told her sorry

(That wasn't really straightforward, I just used that scenario to summarize so many instances).

In the aforementioned scenario, after analyzing and seeing that the case is not too delicate, I always face the offended person to tell him/her this:

But she said sorry.

Sorry...

...is a two syllabic word with five letters, one vowel, two repeated consonants, an s and a y; which are also consonants.

As harmless as the word "sorry" actually is, it can also be counted as the hardest word to say especially when your ego dwells in you.

• What if you are actually the one who is right and the other person actually refuses to accept his/her fault?

I'm guilty as charged when it comes to the aforementioned.

I despise saying sorry when I know I'm actually right, even if saying sorry is capable of preventing more quarrels or fights.

There was a day my mum and I were having issues, she was terribly pissed off and kept sending me hateful text messages.

A part of me kept telling me to just say "I'm sorry" and let the matter die down once and for all.

But...

No, how can i?, She's the one who's wrong, so I kept replying back, I noticed her text messages were getting worse with my replies. Her words were getting unreadable, there were errors in her words. (For people like my mum, one can read and understand how extreme her anger is, through the way she types her words).

I felt this and finally said: "I'm sorry mum."

She suddenly stopped sending those messages, and everything was back to normal.

My mind pushed me further to still put a call through; which I did. I called to repeat my apologies and the peace I felt after doing that cannot be explained.

I had a sound sleep on that very day.

• Saying "Sorry" stops more words from being uttered.

A person who's angry and keeps shouting at you, blaming you and hurling hurtful words at you can be kept shut just by the word "Sorry"

Sometimes I'll be really angry with someone, I'll keep talking and talking and would even have more words to say...

But once the person says "Sorry"

I usually feel pained...

Why?...

• Because I can't say all I want to say anymore.

• Because I suddenly have to keep quiet.

• Because as little as the word "Sorry" is, it has been able to shut me from hurling out more words, leaving me no other option than to bury the other words waiting to burst out; in and just accept the fact that I've been apologized to, so there's nothing more for me to say.

• Sorry saves you from being punished.

Just like the initial story I wrote, Sorry saved the offender from being punished.

When I was younger, sorry spared me from more lashes of cane. My dad might be spanking me continuously but once I say "sorry" he stops immediately.

Although, when he noticed I started repeating the same mistakes and would jump at saying sorry at the slightest whip, he kinda stopped adhering to my pleas and would still lash out some strokes even after I've said "I'm sorry."

But yes! It sometimes save you from being punished.

Sorry does alot more than we can actually imagine, if only we learn how to make use of it.

There's a reason why "sorry" is part of the five magic words.

• Sorry heals.

• In rare cases, sorry is capable of stopping a fight from escalating into murder.

• Sorry brings peace.

• Sorry sometimes bring and end to malice and bitterness.

• Sorry can also be seen as a sign of humility.

• Sorry heals.

It does alot, we just need to see and understand that Saying sorry doesn't remove anything from our body.

Okay, let's talk about what inspired this article:

It was on the naming ceremony day of their child, people were there to celebrate with them. Workers from the wife's place of work, workers from the husband's place of work and church members were all present.

There was no spoon anymore and the wife couldn't give her boss a plastic spoon, she had to meet with one of the church members to collect an iron spoon from him; exchanging it with a plastic spoon, the man obviously didn't take this to heart but her husband who was watching as the scene unfolded was angered in his spirit.

He bellowed:

Why would you collect the church member's spoon all because you want to give it to your boss?!!!

There was nothing wrong with what the wife did, the church member too never complained, so the husband's rants really got the wife pissed off.

The wife's mother had told her.

Just tell him Sorry, so this issue can die down.

But no, she wasn't wrong after all, she totally refused to obey.

Why would I tell him Sorry when he's the one who's wrong!? No mama, I can't tell him Sorry.

The issue escalated into something else. Even after the naming ceremony, this man kept beating his wife all because of that trivial act.

The wife's mother who was still around; being the period when she was to stay and assist her daughter with taking care of her newly born child; couldn't bear it anymore.

She kept crying and begging her son-in-law not to kill her daughter.

This so called son in-law got infuriated by this and added his mother-in-law to the picture. He beat his wife and included her mother.

The mother couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't stay anymore and decided to leave, she wanted to go with her daughter and her grandchild, but the daughter was too wounded to walk, the mother had to leave without them.

Disclaimer:

The Man was far from being right. From this story, you'll see that his head is mentally not correct. For a man to lay his hands on his wife and also lay his hands on his own mother-in-law... Now that's something else.

I still feel, if the wife had said sorry back then, the issue would never had escalated to that extent.

P.S: This story isn't fictional, I heard it from the horse's mouth.

Let's not allow our pride and egoism to disrupt some good things from coming our way. Let's also not allow it to bring some bad things our way.

Till we meet again in my next article and in yours.

Thanks for reading.