Some words have been used so much that they have stopped meaning anything.
In Casablanca, “sorry” is one of them. Drive through the city for ten minutes, and you’ll hear it. Or rather, see it.
Someone will eventually run a red light, cut into your lane, or block an intersection. No eye contact. No acknowledgment. Just a hand raised through the window.
That’s the apology. A flat palm that says “sorry”.
The hand used to mean something. It was a gesture between two people. An honest admission that you messed up.
But now, it’s a free pass. Do whatever you want, raise your hand, and move on.
The other person is supposed to accept it.
The real issue isn’t bad driving. It’s what happens when a word loses its meaning. Because “sorry” in Casablanca’s traffic doesn’t mean “I apologize.” It means “I’m doing this anyway.”
Now I don’t even know if someone is sorry because they genuinely missed a light, didn’t do it on purpose, or if it’s just the same old trick.
We’ve lost the ability to truly apologize to others, and it makes me sick.
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