The Apology Company

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

The Apology Company
Friends, there are significant cultural differences between East and West, as there is between Orient and Occident. Professor Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at People’s University in Tianjin, China, was interviewed by The New York Times about the issue of asking another’s pardon. According to Zhou, Japan, China, and all other Asian cultures tend to be apologetically challenged. “Germany has been good at making apologies for what they it did during World War II,” he said. “But the Japanese are not good at this, nor are the Chinese. They are always looking for excuses and forgetting misdeeds.” One school visited by Professor Zhou had been particularly terrorized during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 - 1976. One adult was beaten to death, and the principal of the school was left disabled. The students who did those horrible deeds are all grown up now, many of them parents and teachers themselves. “But up to now there is not a single person who has gone back and apologized for what they did,” he said, “it is a problem with the whole society.” The power of an apology to reduce tensions and begin healing traces to the ethical teachings of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures about responsibility, moral accountability and confession of sin. In fact, the apostle James, in chapter 5, verse 16 writes: “You should get into the habit of admitting your sins to each other, and praying for each other, so that if sickness comes to you, you may be healed.” Amazingly, because of the reluctance in Chinese society to say “I’m sorry,” an apology company has begun to thrive. The Tianjin Apology and Gift Centre have for its motto “We Say Sorry for You.” Its founder believed that the people of Tianjin needed help with making up and getting past grievances. They proposed to do this by providing help with apologizing. In spite of our cultural permissions and biblical knowledge, most of us still tend to have a problem with taking ownership of our mistakes. Have you ever had a problem at work with someone who wouldn’t admit making a mistake? Or, worse still, who tried to shift the blame to someone else? Have you ever known of a church to go through a division because nobody would make a move to apologize? Or, have you ever experienced a tense time in your family because you - or somebody - wouldn’t admit fault? Well, I can’t predict how successful and apology company in China will be, but I agree with Professor Zhou on one key point. “If you are sincere,” he said, “you should go and apologize yourself.” More importantly, I believe if more of us were willing to do this, there’d be a lot more peace in our world! Thank you for taking the time to read what I’ve presented in this column today. I look forward to sharing more thoughts with you next week. If you would like to write to me with your comments or questions, I’d be pleased to receive them. Email me or write to me at P.O Box 1540, Albany W.A 6331. Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418

The Apology Company

Friends, there are significant cultural differences between East and West, as there is between Orient and Occident. Professor Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at People’s University in Tianjin, China, was interviewed by The New York Times about the issue of asking another’s pardon.

According to Zhou, Japan, China, and all other Asian cultures tend to be apologetically challenged. “Germany has been good at making apologies for what they it did during World War II,” he said. “But the Japanese are not good at this, nor are the Chinese. They are always looking for excuses and forgetting misdeeds.”

One school visited by Professor Zhou had been particularly terrorized during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 - 1976. One adult was beaten to death, and the principal of the school was left disabled. The students who did those horrible deeds are all grown up now, many of them parents and teachers themselves. “But up to now there is not a single person who has gone back and apologized for what they did,” he said, “it is a problem with the whole society.”

The power of an apology to reduce tensions and begin healing traces to the ethical teachings of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures about responsibility, moral accountability and confession of sin. In fact, the apostle James, in chapter 5, verse 16 writes: “You should get into the habit of admitting your sins to each other, and praying for each other, so that if sickness comes to you, you may be healed.”

Amazingly, because of the reluctance in Chinese society to say “I’m sorry,” an apology company has begun to thrive. The Tianjin Apology and Gift Centre have for its motto “We Say Sorry for You.” Its founder believed that the people of Tianjin needed help with making up and getting past grievances. They proposed to do this by providing help with apologizing.

In spite of our cultural permissions and biblical knowledge, most of us still tend to have a problem with taking ownership of our mistakes. Have you ever had a problem at work with someone who wouldn’t admit making a mistake? Or, worse still, who tried to shift the blame to someone else? Have you ever known of a church to go through a division because nobody would make a move to apologize? Or, have you ever experienced a tense time in your family because you - or somebody - wouldn’t admit fault?

Well, I can’t predict how successful and apology company in China will be, but I agree with Professor Zhou on one key point. “If you are sincere,” he said, “you should go and apologize yourself.” More importantly, I believe if more of us were willing to do this, there’d be a lot more peace in our world!

Thank you for taking the time to read what I’ve presented in this column today. I look forward to sharing more thoughts with you next week. If you would like to write to me with your comments or questions, I’d be pleased to receive them.

Email me
or write to me at
P.O Box 1540,
Albany W.A 6331.

Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418