THE HABIT OF WINNING

The power of Sorry

"I AM SORRY"

Once there was a man who had 3 daughters and was a single parent to his children. One morning he asked his oldest daughter, Sonia, to do the breakfast dishes before going to school. Not realizing that she was already running late and facing too many tardy notices, he was stunned by her reaction. She burst into profuse tears. Again, misinterpreting the motive behind the outburst, assuming that she was merely trying to get out of an unpleasant chore, he demanded that she dry her tears and get back to work immediately. She reluctantly obeyed him, but her anger could be clearly heard in the careless clanking of the dishes in the sink, she turned back to her father and stared sullenly out the window. Usually the man use to take advantage of the uninterrupted time to spend with his children while driving them to school by teaching poetry or religious verses. However that morning there was no songs- only deathly, stubborn silence. The man dropped his daughter, mumbled a good bye and moved to office. He tried to work but couldn't concentrate all he could see was his daughter's scared, tear-stained face as she hesitantly climbed out of the car to face her teachers and classmates. The man began to realize that his timing had gone wrong and with the passage of the day he began to feel remorseful. So he decided to say SORRY to his daughter and couldn't wait till suppertime to apologize. So he took permission from the school to take his daughter for lunch and was astonished to see the surprise on her face. He led her by her arm through the corridor and as the doors banged behind them, he turned towards his daughter and said, "Sonia I am sorry. I am so very sorry! It's not that I shouldn't have asked you to help out at home, but I had no right on it this morning without any previous warning. I upset you at a time when you most needed my love and support- just before you went to school. And I let you go without saying 'I love you'. I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Sonia put her arms around her father's neck and hugged him and said "Oh, Dad, of course I forgive you. I love you too."

The power of these restorative words, "I am Sorry!" is such that they heal relationships – between us and our friends and loved ones, and between us and God.