“I’m sorry.”
This is something you’ll never hear on a debate stage or in a board room. We’ve cast it out as a sign of weakness when, indeed, it’s the opposite.
People who apologize are showing they are courageous and intelligent because they’re choosing knowledge, connection, and growth over their own ego. When you apologize, it means you’ve discovered that there’s another way, a better way, a helpful, alternative perspective that you’ve overlooked or didn’t realize.
None of us know everything so why do we talk, argue, and comment as if we do?
When walking down a path in the woods, if we come to a bear, we turn back and come up with a new plan. It’s just common sense but, for some reason, we throw out this simple logic when it comes to our personal or political point of view.
And it’s no wonder we do this because our path is lined with cheerleaders who are our friends and allies. They are cheering us on to be right above all else, to keep going down our path because it’s their path too, and they believe their cheering is love, even if it means we get eaten by the bear.