I'm sorry: Does it really fix things?

I'm Sorry, You hear this all the time..but what does it mean and why do we say it?

A father misses his little girl's dance recital after he promised to attend. It was her very last recital of the year, and since he hadn't been able to make it to any of the eight previous ones, he gave her his word that he would be the first person there this time. They even pinkie swore on it. But he gets caught up in work and forgets. Later, as he walks through the doors into his home, his seven years old daughter races up to him in tears and screams "why weren't you there?" She wears a heart wrenching look of despair. The father shocked and feeling guilty, looks into her child-like brown eyes and says I'm sorry"

A wife is cheating on her husband of five years with a coworker. The affair has been going on for three months. The husbands becomes suspicious of his wife's sudden mood changes and disappearances and begins to question her whereabouts. When confronted the wife adamantly denies the accusations. Eventually, her conscious has had enough of the sneaking around and the deception. She confides in her husband; he is in tears. His heart is shredding into a million microscopic pieces; he is devastated. The wife silently whispers "I'm sorry".

A little 3 year old boy is diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors do all they can, but ultimately, his disease is incurable. The boy has four more days to live. The doctor notifies the mother of the tragedy. The young teenage mother cries out in deep sorrow and despair. The doctor, in an effort to comfort her whispers, "keep hope alive, have faith" into her ear. The mother pulls herself together and go sees her son. Her tears begin to slowly trickle down her cheeks as she gently places her son's tiny hands into her own. She slowly shuts her eyes, as the tears descend, and murmurs, "I'm sorry."

In all of these scenarios, the phrase I'm sorry is used to display remorse and sorrow. lot of times, we do wrong to someone and we say "I'm sorry" to fix it. But is simply saying I'm sorry enough to mend the hurt that was inflicted on the person? In many cases the answer is no. Just like the way it takes time for a wound to heal, it also takes time for the heart to mend... honesty,Forgiveness and love are essential ingredients in speeding up the healing process.
The author Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.:)