One of the DUMBEST SAYINGS I have EVER HEARD is the line "Love means you never have to say you're sorry!" The quote originated from the movie "Love Story;" a blockbuster from my teen days. In the 70's all young girls devoured the Erich Segal book and adored the movie starring Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal (two heartthrobs back in the day). The chick flick was a "bring your Kleenex" movie for our generation complete with the handsome boy, gorgeous girl, wealth, Ivy league settings, and DRAMA! But as enamored as I was with the book, the movie and charmed by the stunning beauty of Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal, EVEN I (under the spell-of-it-all) thought it was TOTALLY LAME when the byline was said first by Jenny (played by McGraw) and later on by Oliver (played by O'Neal). I can honestly remembered thinking: "What in the heck does that mean? Love Means you Never Have To Say You're Sorry?! Really? Huh? Guess I am JUST TOO YOUNG to understand the nuances of LOVE!" HA! Turns out that my goofy young self was actually smarter than I gave myself credit for!
IN FACT, it turns out that LOVE is ALL ABOUT saying you are sorry! Often! When we really love people we are willing to concede that we make mistakes, that we blow it big time, that we hurt them, that apologies are important, yadda, yadda! When when we LOVE OTHERS we say we are sorry because even though it is a HARD THING to do we LOVE THEM!
Sadly, it has taken me YEARS & YEARS to recognize that I often give Half Hearted Apologies. I'm a PRO at the "I'm-Sorry-BUT-Apology!" I have it perfected to an art! This is when I AM genuinely sorry EXCEPT I happen to have a very good, a very legitimate explanation for my reasoning, my behavior, my whatever! So the Mea Culpa only begins with "I'm Sorry" and then continues with my ranting diatribe of skewed justification!
Apparently John Lennon transposed the quote and said: "Love means having to say you're sorry every fifteen minutes" which sounds excessive until you remember that his spouse was the domineering Yoko Ono (then his version makes total sense!).
I've find that sincere apologies are actually EMPOWERING! When I've occasionally been BIG ENOUGH to man up and take responsibility I've learned that feeling conciliatory about my actions usually starts me on a better path anyway!
Since I mostly blog about quotes I LOVE; I just threw in a STUPID quote today to shake things up a bit! And "I'm Sorry" to anyone who actually LIKES the Love Story Quote!
