Sorry

"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." Vince Lombardi

Sorry is a powerful word, but it loses its power when it is abused and overused. Sorry is most powerful when it is used for the first time by the same person for the first mistake. It becomes less powerful when it is used the second time by the same person for the same mistake. It is almost meaningless when it is used the third time by the same person for the same mistake.

People who use sorry as a means to apologize have a tendency to say sorry whenever they make mistakes. They naively believe that if it works the first time, then it is going to work the next time, and possibly forever. This is of course not true.

Admitting mistakes take courage, but this courage is wasted if the person making the mistake learns nothing. Sorry without action is an empty word. Sorry with corrective action is learning from mistakes.

To err is human. Charles Kettering is right in saying that "every great improvement has come after repeated failures. Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are fingerposts on the road to achievement."