Sorry

I'm sorry I didn't get to this earlier, but the inspiration just hadn't arrived.

A sweet little boy in my life, is being indoctrinated, like all little Canadian boys and girls, with the importance of saying sorry. I know many will find it hard to believe he isn't perfect, but when it comes to perfection in little boys and girls, I think naughtiness is a prime ingredient.

He has quite a selection of sorries. There is the sorry with the the twinkling eyes, that means he isn't the least bit sorry; there is the sorry that comes  quickly to lessen the repercussions of some dastardly deed and there is the sorry that comes from his very being when he has broken a favourite christmas ornament, and knows the sadness that will bring. There are many, many more. Just spend some time with some five-year- olds for an afternoon and you will be exposed to most of the sorries on  the spectrum.

Yesterday, I was half listening to something on the radio in the background, as I was lost in busyness. The panelists were discussing some worldwide phenomena, that had been given appropriate names for the country in which they had occurred, Angus for Scotland, Hans for Germany, Priya for India and Vinnie for Canada. The Canadians found Vinnie an odd choice, none of them ever having met a Vinnie, and thought perhaps Doug would be better. Some one else on the panel suggested Sorry might be a better reflection for the country.

There seems to bean outbreak of Canadian sorry jokes.

The reality is sorry is a word that slips easily and often into everyday  conversation. I get to the grocery cart before someone behind me and automatically say sorry. A man backs up his shiny red truck into a lady's blue Toyota. They both jump out of their cars saying" I'm sorry".

To many, so much sorriness is ludicrous, essentially, because it is. But, and it is a big but, sorry sure beats an automatic fuck off.

Sorry is linguistic balm that soothes human interactions and promotes civility. There is a something almost magical about it all. Sorry recognizes the presence of others. Sorry, but it seems to work for us. We may seem a little wimpy, but still hurrah for us.

Sorry I have to go. The dog needs out.