Admitting when you’re wrong
- Rev. Alex Hoffmeyer
- 13 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In February, Japanese volleyball player Yuji Nishida gained international fame when he struck a female courtside judge after a wild serve. Immediately, Nishida ran and dove under the net, sliding face-first toward the judge in apology. It seemed comically over-the-top, but the act is something embedded in Japanese culture. It’s called “dogeza,” a sign of deference done when one is trying to honor another or regain their favor.
As I watched the video, I thought we could all use that posture in life. I’ve noticed that our world trains us to act a certain way when someone notices that we’ve done something wrong. We are being trained to justify our wrong. If we get angry, we try to prove that anger was the only option. If we neglect a responsibility, we claim it wasn’t our fault. It’s as though admitting that we’ve done something wrong is somehow a weakness. That it will make others think less of us that we are, in fact, human and are capable of making mistakes. And, more importantly, it ignores the fact that our mistakes can hurt others.
