Do you mean it when you say sorry?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

“Sorry seems to be the hardest word!” It is sometimes a hard word to say, it certainly is a hard word to mean and maybe even harder to accept.

I used to be a headteacher and at times boys would be sent to my office for fighting on the yard. They would come into my office saying sorry before even I spoke. I would often tell them that if they were really sorry it would not happen again, but often they would be sent back a little while later for fighting again. They were not sorry at all. They saw “sorry” only as a word that got them out of trouble. That is the difference between being sorry that you were caught and being repentant of an action. To be truly repentant means that you turn away from it.

Armistice Day

Photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The Armistice of 11 November 1918, signed at Le Francport near Compiègne, ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last remaining opponent, Germany. It came into force at 11:00 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender. Sadly 2,738 men died on the last day of the war. 

In November 2014, when I was in London with my wife and daughter (who incidentally celebrates her birthday today), we visited the major art installation "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" at the Tower of London. We viewed in the early evening when the floodlit display of poppies was at its eeriest. It marked one hundred years since the first full day of Britain's involvement in the First World War. Created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with stage designer Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic poppies had progressively filled the Tower's famous moat over that summer. Each poppy represented a British military fatality during the war. The poppies encircled the iconic landmark, creating a spectacular display visible from all around the Tower and a location for personal reflection.