The facial recognition of my computer makes the camera light blink and murmur until I look at it. One day the phone rang just as I turned on the computer. By the time I returned to it, the camera light had blinked and murmured for about 30 minutes. When I realized this, I automatically said, “Oh, I’m sorry.”

I laughed at myself for apologizing to an inanimate object. On reflection, I was glad I did it.

As a young man, I hated to apologize because I saw it as submission. It seemed that I had to feel bad about myself for inadvertent and venial offenses. This seemed particularly unjust since I committed inadvertent and venial offenses because I felt bad about myself. Having to apologize seemed like piling on after I was down.

The stereotype of people who have difficulty apologizing is that their egos are bigger than their values. There’s some truth to that........

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