Many people fail to apologise when they have committed an offense of some form, legal, ethical, or moral. This brings much misery to the victims because their hurt by the offensive action has not been acknowledged.

But an apology is more than just words. It is the tone of voice, the body language, the indicator of/lack of dignity being given with the words that indicate if the apology is sincere or not.

An insincere apology is worthless.

If your apology is heartfelt, and acknowledged as such by the victim of your actions, then you will have given a good apology. By having done something that offended, having had to give an apology, shows you are not as knowledgeable about the person as you thought you were. This limiting of understanding of a person limits your ability to give a perfect apology.
You can only hope to give a very good apology that is accepted in the spirit it is meant. If you were to give a "perfect" apology I think the victim would not believe it was truly sincere. The fact that you erred in the first place means you must show not only remorse but also a less than perfect response of apology. You yourself have shown you are not perfect after all!

Learn more about this author, Carol Noble.
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