Many of you probably remember the movie, “Love Story”, released in 1970. It created a storm with a most profound declaration, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” To my mind, that is quite an idiotic statement, for every relationship, especially loving relationships, have times for tender and heartfelt apologies. To assume that if love is true there won’t ever be a need to apologize is to assume that the people involved are perfect and won’t make any mistakes, which of course, is impossible. Bernard Poduska, a marriage and family therapist, suggests nine areas in which couples may need to ask forgiveness:
1- Forgive me for not always being your friend.
2- Forgive me for the times I didn’t place you as my number one priority.
3- Forgive me for the times I have taken your gifts of time, effort, and concern for granted.
4- Forgive me for not being there when you needed me.
5- Forgive me for not accepting a less-than-perfect you.
6- Forgive me for the times I have been selfish.
7- Forgive me for the promises, implied or explicit, that I have broken.
8- Forgive me for not helping you progress to your full potential.
9- Forgive me for not forgiving you>
“I’m sorry”, sincerely extended and genuinely felt, is an accepting of responsibility for those inevitable mistakes. It is an invitation to the other to extend forgiveness. It is compassion for a regrettable situation. Love isn’t never having to say you’re sorry, rather, love means being willing to say you’re sorry, and meaning it.
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