Apologies: Love Story Had It All Wrong

I’m a child of the seventies, so I guess that is my excuse for knowing about the movie Love Story.  It was actually released the year I was born and won numerous awards including the Oscar and multiple Golden Globes the next year.  I remember watching it for the first time after I read the book of the same name.  I must have been about eleven years old.

It’s strange how things like quotes stay with you throughout your life.  Maybe it’s because I was at an impressionable age or because I had never been in love, but I viewed the story as the truth about love.  The killer quote is, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”  Looking back, I think it’s more a characteristic of a generation.  People kept feelings inside and were stoic, far removed from the vulnerability of having to issue an apology.  These same parents raised my generation.

I’m thinking about love because I’m bombarded with Valentine messages on television, radio and internet.  I’m thinking about apologies because there are likely a few I owe and a few people who should reach out to me with one.  You see, Love Story had it all wrong.  When you love or care for someone you DO say you’re sorry if you do something to hurt them.  I learned this when I became a mother.

We’re not perfect at home or at work and we do and say things, sometimes intentional and sometimes unintentional, to hurt others.  If we love or care for them though, we should feel good about making amends.  Maybe Valentines Day should not be about telling someone “I love you”, but instead about “I’m sorry and I’ll be a better ____________( insert boss, husband, wife, friend, etc.).”

What do you think?