Have you ever wondered how the Ghanaian cultivated the habit of saying “sorry”, immediately after an incident?. It happens to be the first word accompanied by an expression that is automatically generated from a person regardless of the situation or level of impact.
Either emotional, accidentally colliding with a person or noticing another person’s anguish, the word automatically pops up. The word, ‘ I am sorry ‘ which is a form of an apology, simplified as “ sorry” is widely understood regardless of the language barrier, geographical location, ethnic grouping or religious affiliation.
Regardless of the consequence, whether major or minor, the term is the first statement made by the offender to alleviate the impact.
The question is, does verbal acceptance in the form of “sorry“ remedy for pain inflicted consciously or subconsciously?
Most often than not, others will insist on a mandatory apology as a psychological form of satisfaction, and when it doesn’t go as expected, it sets the bases of an argument.
This phenomenon is widely accepted and has become a norm in the Ghanaian culture setup. Though is it a subconscious act, it has proven to be effective in resolving apparent disagreements or trivial incidents.
Interestingly, one could get away with stepping on a person's toe, driving recklessly, or pushing a person and get to walk away, as long as the term “sorry “ is applied, the pain partly goes away.
Contrary to the Ghanaian approach, elsewhere in the world, people take up legal litigations based on the magnitude of the damage to the physical, cognitive and emotional well-being of the individual before and after the impact, regardless of whom or where it happened. Someone must be blamed.
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