“I’m sorry.”

It’s two of the easiest and most overused words in the English language. ‘I’m sorry’ just rolls of the tongue for anything from being late to a meeting to breaking your mother’s favorite vase.

Over the years, ‘I’m sorry’ has lost the meaning that it once had. It’s become a phrase that once full of meaning has now lost all possible meaning. When you say, ‘I’m sorry’ do you actually mean it, or are you just fulfilling a societal norm? Do you actually mean the words; are you actually apologetic when you say ‘I’m sorry’? Or are they just words; something to say to fill the void but not really meaning anything.

Why do we say ‘I’m sorry’ if we don’t really mean it? Why do we say words that we don’t actually mean? Is it because that is what society expects of us? Are we just following the social norms by saying things we don’t actually mean and won’t ever follow through with? Why have these words been reduced to just words?

So many of the things we say today have no meaning behind them. They are empty societal norms that we instinctively follow without putting any thought, or emotion behind them. But I want to mean what I say, so from now on when I say ‘I’m sorry’, I’m going to mean it. When I speak, I’m going to mean exactly what I say and I’m going to say exactly what I mean. Words should always have meaning and impact. They are an integral way for people to communicate.

‘I’m sorry’ isn’t the only phrase that has lost all meaning. There are many more. Which ones can you think of?