WELL, the Jubilee is over and all the stars came out for a big showy concert to finish it off.
I saw that Elton John made his obligatory appearance in front of the royals. I’m not a fan of Elton’s style or awful hair job, but the man can write a song. I prefer the ballads and Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word is one my favourites.
Sorry is a word I use and hear a lot. For some weird reason us Brits seem unnecessarilly attached to the word.
For example, instead of saying ‘excuse me’ I always say ‘sorry’. I’m not sorry, as I have done nothing wrong. But when I am truly sorry I mean it and say it, and then I like to move on.
As you may have established, being a wheelchair user, people often apologise – much in the same way I say sorry as a surrogate for excuse me. The problem is that for some weird reason it turns into an apology battle.
For example, on a recent trip back from France I had an unsatisfactory experience getting on and off the plane.
As it is my duty to promote disability awareness, I thought it was necessary to say something to the cabin crew and the customer services team at Gatwick. Everybody was very kind and apologetic, perhaps a bit too much.
The thing is, when something is wrong I expect an apology but then due to a desire to blend in and not cause a scene, I want the situation to dissipate (quickly!) and carry on with my day. Back to the flight, after a lengthy apology as the other passengers boarded, I was then seen by multiple other members of staff who reiterated the apology and kept on asking what they could do to help.
I couldn’t exactly say ‘shut up and leave me be’. It’s the age-old trap of being polite to the point of awkwardness (for them and me). The overall effect was a strung out uber-apology where I ended up apologising for saying something too, when the whole situation could have been resolved by good practice and then a quick swift meaningful apology. So I guess this is almost like a confessional saying ‘Niall, stop apologising when it’s not necessary’ but also to those of you who happen to find yourselves in a situation where there is a need to apologise to someone with a disability.
Be genuine, be apologetic and let’s all move on.
I guess Elton might have a point when he says sorry seems to be hardest word.
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