By Tom Dodge, KERA 90.1 Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-496128.mp3
Dallas, TX –
A questionable dog bite recently highlighted the power of government and its responsibility to make amends when it is wrong. Whether our dog actually bit someone who was trespassing on our property was unclear and he was on a chain and in his own yard at the time. The police took him in for quarantine though there was never any real proof that he was guilty. Since the bite was supposed to have been under the clothing, only the person making the charge may ever know if he did it. The police took the person's word for it. Later the city paid the quarantine fee and the officer came to my house and told me he was wrong and that he was sorry.
Apologizing is rare behavior for public officials but it actually happened again in the same week. Our school superintendent said in a meeting in his office that he was sorry for the havoc his lack of planning caused to our neighborhood when major school construction began last spring virtually in our back yard. He said he should have consulted everyone on our street and asked for our advice on how to minimize the disruption caused by the noise, dust, displaced rodents, nightlights, students driving crazily up and down our alleyway and trespassing through our yard. He regrets it, he said, and will not make this mistake again. Such expressions of state culpability would not be so surprising if this were a period of real religious thought and action. Contrition and atonement are major functions of religion and for a reason. They are good for the soul and good for the community.
But insecurity and fear of courtrooms prevent people from saying they're to blame and are sorry.
In English we call this an apology though the Greek word from which it derives, "apologia," means a legal verbal defense of your actions. A defense is not what we want when we've been wronged. We don't want to hear, "I'll take the blame but it really wasn't my fault." We feel this is a way of "laying the groundwork for future offenses." What we want to hear is that they were at fault and hope to be forgiven.
How to explain these two acts of contrition from public officials in one week? One possibility is that they took their cue from President Bush, who has tried lately to admit his errors beyond his usual Greek way. The superintendent and the cop gave me to know that they were Christians. Of course it was Jesus who taught his followers to ask their fellow man for forgiveness for their trespasses.
An American president's words and deeds have great influence on the country and President Bush's attempts to express his fallibility may develop into a softer pattern of American behavior and ameliorate some of the anger. But in the long run it is deeds that count. The same is true of apologies. Saying you're sorry is only the beginning. Behaving as if you are is the hard part.
Tom Dodge is a writer from Midlothian.
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