I recently heard a woman talk about how her spiritual mentor gave her explicit instructions to make amends. She didn’t want to do it. Apparently she blew up at a bank teller and was rude and nasty even though it wasn’t the teller’s fault. This woman didn’t want to apologize even though she knew that she was wrong. She wanted to forget it. Avoid the teller. Heck, just avoid the bank because she was afraid. Finally after two weeks, she mustered up the courage. She went and cut the most beautiful rose that she could find from her garden, put it in a vase, and went to the bank. She walked up to the teller and said, “I don’t know if you remember me but I was in a couple of weeks ago and I treated you poorly. I was rude. I was inconsiderate. The problem that I had wasn’t your fault even though I took out my frustration on you. I am sorry. If you could, perhaps you might find it in your heart to forgive me.”
The teller took the rose, look up, and tears started to gush. “No one has ever said something like that to me.”