I'm Sorry! So Sorry!

Do you remember this commercial?


I remember watching it as a kid.  That song gets stuck in you head, doesn't it.  Sorry about that! Ha!

I was thinking about it because someone mad me mad last week and I waited around for an apology that never came.  It wasn't anything major; not even worth going into details about, but it got me thinking about apologies.  I even mentioned apologies in my Ten on Tuesday list a while back. 

I think it's important to apologize when you make a mistake or hurt someone. I also realize that it's hard to admit that you've messed up and even harder to confess it to the person you affected.  But then what happens?

When I taught pre-school and I encouraged kids to apologize to each other, I often heard the wronged person say, "It's okay."  And that never sounded right.  It's not okay that Bobby hit you in the head with a truck!!  Since I was at a Christian pre-school, I often encouraged the kids to say, "I forgive you!"  That sounded better.  I still encourage that with my own kids.

But it still seems odd to my ears for an adult to respond that way.  Maybe it's just me, but for adults it sounds trite. Especially for a minor fault.  Saying, "It's okay." doesn't seem to work for me, because it's not okay.  But then, "I forgive you." seems a bit much for something that's not a huge deal.

Am I even making sense here?  Making a mountain out of a molehill?  What is your response when someone apologizes to you?  What do you want to hear in response when you apologize to someone else?