Xin Lỗi

Means:
"I'm sorry" in Vietnamese.

After "The Incident", I've come to realize how lost this word has become. Not only for the fact that people seem to rarely use it, but also for the fact that it is misused, used with no sincerity, or used with unnecessary attitude.

An apology goes hand in hand with appreciation. When you appreciate something or someone and you, in some manner, hurt that thing or person, you apologize. But if you don't appreciate, you don't bother to apologize.

It seems people don't appreciate nowadays. Why is it that going out to smell the air and appreciate the breeze and cold chill of the night or day is so ridiculed? Why is it looked upon as something a hippie would do, or someone with loose wires in their head? I do it nearly everyday. I love the feeling of the cold breeze blowing my hair away from my face; smelling the cold as it makes its way up my nose; feeling the goosebumps as they slowly form on my arms. I appreciate this tiny gift that has been given to me that many others fail to recognize.

There are so many things in this would that we should appreciate and be thankful for, yet we refuse to do so. I, myself, have been a criminal of such act. I failed to appreciate the existence of him. But what is it now that he's gone? What does it matter now that he's not present in this lifetime anymore. Although I cannot appreciate him or even apologize to him now, I can do it to others. It's not about telling him that I'm sorry or that I appreciate him. It's about telling that to others so this feeling of guilt doesn't creep up on me in the future. It's my advice to you so you don't ever have to feel the way I do.

*
*
*
xin lỗi

is your foreign word of the day. Use it to remind others to appreciate those around you who have helped form your world. When you've made a mistake, apologize to them. It may merely be an apology, but an apology is something more than just spoken words. In the future, once they have passed, you will realize how important that apology really was.