The hardest word of all

[misscam]

No sorry from Blair, though admiting the WMD claims were wrong

Ah, the problems of apologising. It's not exactly the easiest thing to do, because it does mean admiting to yourself as well that you have made a mistake or have hurt someone. But sometimes it is necesary and Blair does owe Britain an apology. Whether he believed it or not, he led the country to war on false reasons. There was no WDS. And reagrdless of how bad Saddam was, this was not what the war in Britain was argued on.

While I was in Australia, I came across the concept of Sorry Day, an unofficial day of remeberance for the crimes commited against the Aboriginal people. I think Sorry Day is a great idea, not just for the great atrocoties, but for all the little things we do that have hurt others. Let us have one day where we dare apologise, regardless of whether we think we will get forgiveness or not.

So, I'd like to start with a few I have on my mind. I, Camilla Sandman, of sane mind and tired body, would like to apologise:

- To Jen, who I did not mean to stab in the back, but did anyway.

- To Therese, who I was not there for when she needed me, even if she had been there for me for years.

- To X, who once sent me a nice and politely phrases critisism of my work and I, in my 18-year old folly, sent a downright pretensious and rude reply back.

- To my parents, for what grievances I caused while growing up and will cause in the future.

- To any I have ignored or made feel less important. I have a limited attentionspan, as have all people. It's not your fault my attention drifts.

- To Benjamin, for what those of my race did to you.

- To Saphie, for putting you in the middle of a conflict not to do with you.

- To any American I have felt anger or resentment towards because of Bush.

I am sorry.

How about you?

Comments

My Sorrys

[musemistress.livejournal.com]

(Considering I cannot remember 'Sorry Day' being recognized as a consequence of my sad-cased hotheaded generation of kids who refused to acknowlege anything to do with ethics and politics for fears of governmental retribution of a massive kind, such as the withdrawel of student payments which has happened anyway, since our little stint of having huge rally's against Pauline Hanson...I'll make a little list anyhow)

* * * *


-To Dianne for not telling you I left the country and then not writing for two years so you probably think I am dead.

-To Chris who I ignore too often

-To Alex for all LARP actions I did against when I played a witch.

-To Rowan (my bf...apparently...I know it's weird) for not loving you the way I should. Kind of hard being who I am. But I try...for being a flirt with others...for kissing Dani...for kissing Vince, and John, and Yasmijn, and Vince, and Dani, and Dani and Vince...

-To dad for not ever calling you 'dad'.

-To mum for being a lazy bugger.

-To siblings back home for making you worry about my sanity...no...wait...I'm NOT sorry for that!

-To Meike for never reading your stories.

-To Grass...for not using the path....ever.

-To Bush for turning the channel the second I heard you stutter 'Now, to dissuade this mi-mission to discriminate against m-my personality...' and every other time I see your face...eyeball...hair...hear your voice...your name...your ssstut-tut--tuter.

-To Camilla...for putting her through this.


~Vana E~

Re: My Sorrys

[misscam.livejournal.com]

It should be a human right to march against the likes of Pauline Hanson -wait, isn't it already? *glares at Howard*

Me casa es su casa, my ranting-ground is your ranting-ground ;)

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Sorry Day? I love the idea, though somehow the idea of that happening in this country is hard for me to comprehend, at this moment. It feels like it would soon turn into "Sorry, but Here's Why I Did It and Therefore Shouldn't Be Blamed Day" or "I Know I'm Not Perfect, But Neither Are You Day." ^_^;

Anyway, without getting too personal (I hope):

-I'm sorry for the times I was silent or declared myself "neutral" out of fear or just to avoid thinking about things when in hindsight, every voice *did* matter.

-I'm also sorry for the times I opened my mouth or said too much when silence or a limited number of choice words should have said everything.

-I'm sorry my country does things that hurt itself and others more often than it should be allowed to, and that I am not much more active in standing up to it.

-I'm sorry for every time I've ever tried to weasel my way out of responsibility for using a pathetic cover-up excuse to try explaining my inexcusable behavior.

-I'm sorry to all Israelis and Palestinians I might judge unfairly for the actions of the terrorists in their midst (but not to the terrorists themselves).

-I'm sorry to the rest of the world for using up so much energy that harms the environment.

-I'm sorry to the parts of the world that went (and are still going) through serious hardships because of European colonization.

-I'm sorry to any Christians I hurt when I was going through my awkward transition from Christianity to atheism and could have worded some frustrations I had about certain Christian extremists I was peeved with a little more tastefully.

-To all the cats, dogs, and critters in the Humane Society or other animal shelter cages who are only given a few days to find a new home, for trying not to think about you for fear of depression instead of trying to do something to help.

-To my pets (and to my younger sisters when they were little), for getting frustrated at them when we try/triend to communicate and cannot/could not understand each other.

-To anyone I sound like I'm snapping at or patronizing because I have few social skills helping me sound polite when speaking.

-To people in foreign countries whose languages I do not even try to speak when I visit and need to ask something.

Lots more to be sorry about, but I have class in a bit -- going to watch the movie Amistad, which will show a lot of what European colonial powers and many white Americans have to be sorry about.

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Er, as an amendment to comments on "European colonial powers," I'm keeping in mind that America was a product of European colonization (not just trying to spread and thin out the blame), and not saying anything about other continents because I am of European descent living in America and have in a way inherited that guilt, whether my own ancestors participated in the shadier stuff or not, or whether I believe it's fair for a child to inherit his or her ancestors' debts.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

We're all carrying the blood of our forefathers and thus, for good or bad, an echo of their misdeeds lingers within us. I feel horrid about Germany's actions of WW2, as I am Aryan and Scandinavian has Germanic blood. Of course, we are not to blame for what was done long before we were born, but to a certain degree, feeling some collective responsibility even for past misdeeds can help in the process of rectifying them.

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Despite that most of my known English ancestors were Quaker abolitionists who actively fought for equality and the fact that my German ancestors left Germany well before either WWI or WWII and didn't support Hitler or the Nazis, I can't throw a hissy fit about how "white guilt" shouldn't apply to me here -- I see us as being much luckier to have a good life with some guilt thanks to our ancestors that doesn't completely destroy us to deal with than starvation, poverty, horrible civil wars and instability, etc because someone else's ancestors screwed your ancestors over and there was nothing you could do about it.

That's not to say I expect all descendents of these people who did these horrible things to go flog themselves in punishment or to just stop enjoying their comfortable lives, but it gets really ridiculous when white people (ie the "majority race") who have food, shelter, whatever else they want, and can pretty much expect to see all of their loved ones live to see the next day suggesting in arguments that they're the persecuted, unlucky ones when people actually say "Your ancestors screwed their ancestors over, and these people are still screwed over because of that."

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Yes, poor us, who have 2/3rds of the world's resources. Aren't we suffering? /sarcasm (Of course, there are people in our societies who suffer undeniably, but compared to the rest of the world, I say a lot of us are very well off.)

My Sorries

[puredeadthingy.livejournal.com]

To Kate, for although I am always there, I can never talk about it to you.
To my mum and dad, for being a total bitch to you at times when you just loved me.
To the lovely lady at childline who I phoned today but hung up after a few minutes because I didn't know what I could say.
To people I have hurt intentionally-I have a quick temper, but I really shouldn't have tried to hurt you.
To me-I'm sorry I expect you to be perfect. You're not.
To Annis-I'm sorry that i fell out with you. I love you lots like jelly tots and vodka shots.

Re: My Sorries

[misscam.livejournal.com]

My dad worked with children and family affairs for a while, so I got some look into our sort of childline and believe me, they've very good at just chatting until you feel comfortable talking. I'm sure the ones at your end is as well. It helps to have a listening ear, this I do know. Don't feel silly contacting them.

[armeniel.livejournal.com]

That's a really nice idea ^^ Plus, it gives me a chance to go all reflective 'n' stuff.

I would like to apologise to the following (without going too in-depth):

-To Matt, for being inadequate

-To Charlie, for doubting him

-To anybody I've ever laughed at and anybody I've ever said unintentionally mean things to

-To Violet, for not being able to forgive and forget

-To anyone I like well enough but can't find it in myself to trust

-To Jon, for letting him down

-To Charlotte, for not being sorry

-To anyone I ever forced to read my first fanfic... It would've been a treat for the PPC. Luckily, I wrote it in a notebook and made my friends read it

-To everyone, for disappointing you all

-To my cat, for forgetting to feed him last night

That was long ^^ Actually, I could think of more, but I'll spare your comments page. Besides, most of this probably won't make sense to you anyway... Ah well ^^

[misscam.livejournal.com]

As long as it makes sense to you, that's what matters.

[armeniel.livejournal.com]

Truetrue ^^

I apologise:

[starsong24.livejournal.com]

To the PPC board in general for any conflicts that I may have -unknowingly or deliberately -inspired.

To my sister for always being mean.

To any CCers that I may have snapped at.

To my music teacher for having to put up with my temper.

To Julie for being irritated at her efforts to help. (I have Attention Deficit Disorder; it was her job to make me concentrate.)

And yes, Bush owes us an apology.

Re: I apologise:

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I suppose Bush as well as Blair, yeah. They both used the WMD arguments.

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry loved ones for not being the best I can be.

Sorry Mr. Y for crying on your shoulder the other night.

Sorry world for the mess we are in.

[mademoisellenon.livejournal.com]

If only you could say "sorry" and start all over again...a complete tabula rasa...Oh well! I hope you get the apology you deserve.

To maman - I'm sorry for being insensate and a complete bitch when you just want me to understand.

To Victor, who tolerates me even though I don't deserve people like him to even like me.

To Ingrid, whom I should have forgiven and not cut off from my life.

To Elina, whose friendship I lost because I'm an idiot.

To all Americans I make fun of for being so condescending to my country.

To those I have hurt directly and indirectly by my arrogance and sarcasm. I'm sorry...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I don't think starting over is always the solution. Sometimes, apologies and forgiveness makes the friendship that much stronger. Of course, that isn't always true. Humans are prideful beings, after all, and sometimes we just can't apologise or forgive, even if we say the words.