I have come to the conclusion that the word "we" is the most dangerous word in the English language.
Hear me out on this one.
Example: "Sorry Mom, I broke your favorite vase"
"Sorry Mom, we broke your favorite vase."
See the difference? Stay with me.
The difference between the two sentences is tremendous and extremely consequential. In sentence one, you have someone owning up to their sin and being totally honest, in sentence two, you have someone dragging another person into a situation that should only be between the vase breaker and their mother. Now even though Brother and Sister Bearenstien might have broken the vase together, (Like my reference there?) they need to own up to the sin separately. The problem with apologizing as a group is that no one really owns the sin, instead, a group apologizes for something individuals caused. You could say "Yeah mom, we are really sorry," and you don't have to be sorry because it is not you that is sorry, the group is sorry. It is the difference of getting a letter of apology from a big company, or a personal letter of apology from the company's president. You would feel much better with the later.
My point is I feel that all to often, instead of owning our sins as individuals, we wrap other people up into it to make ourselves feel better, and there is absolutely no redemption. Apologies are not about about saying the right words, but the heart attitude, and you can only know the condition of your own heart, never the heart of others. It is all about accountability.
Now I hope you understand why I believe the word "We" is the most dangerous word in the English language.
Goodnight!
Danielle Fife