Almost Half of Americans Breathe Unhealthy Air & How this SCOTUS Case will Affect All Education
May 29, 2025
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Why apologies are so important.
Almost Half of Americans Breathe Unhealthy Air, Report Finds: Who ya gonna call when you find out the Trump administration is deregulating to allow more pollutants in the air?
What’s at Stake with the Supreme Court’s LGBTQ+ Schoolbooks Case: This might seem like a minor issue. Still, it’s about the quality of education for all of our children, and why allowing biases is the opposite of what we’re supposed to teach.
Does Kilmar Abrego Garcia Have 'MS-13' Tattooed on His Hand?: Internet detectives claim Trump photoshopped MS-13 on Garcia’s hand.
Republican Rep Bungles Vandalizing Dem’s Office Plaque After El Salvador Visit: This Republican has no idea his “joke” actually makes him look ridiculous.
What I’m Watching: Your Friends & Neighbors is funny and caustic; Sherlock & Daughter is a fun twist of the classic; Towards Zero is a serviceable Agatha Christie mystery.
Kareem’s Video Break: A little girl. A surprise puppy. Need I say more?
Kareem’s Sports Moments: The most frightening downhill skiing yet.
Roy Orbison Sings “Only the Lonely”: Orbison’s anthem for the lonely is as powerful as it is artful.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
A couple of words that somebody said to somebody many years ago is not who they are today. You regret it, you apologize, you make it right, you move on and you live your life according to the values of what you have.
Diana Taylor, former New York State’s superintendent of banks
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about apologies. They are a valuable currency of any civilization that wishes to maintain social stability. And they are the milestones that measure the emotional evolution of an individual. Unfortunately, like any currency, there are a lot of counterfeits floating around. Those are more damaging than saying nothing at all.
I’ve heard so many quotes from famous people who smugly state that they never apologize. Harry S. Truman once said, “Don’t ever apologize for anything.” Canada’s first female MP, Agnes Macphail said “Never apologize. Never explain. Just get the thing done, and let them howl.” The idea here is that when you’re doing the right thing for the right reason, there’s no reason to apologize to those who don’t like it. But what happens when you later realize your reasoning was faulty and maybe interning Japanese Americans or sterilizing Black women without their permission or knowledge was wrong? Or Trump sending the wrong man to an El Salvador prison? Or Trump calling for the execution of five Black and Latino teens for a crime they didn’t commit?
Then there are those who love to proclaim that they will never apologize for “who they are.” Their narcissism causes them to miss the point. They think that people are offended by their personality when in fact they are offended by contemptible behavior. The inability to distinguish between the two isn’t a strength of character, but rather a weakness of intellect. That isn’t admirable, it’s pitiful.
The Real Housewives of every city are always demanding apologies and either accepting them or rejecting them based on how sincere they deem them to be. Most of the time the apologies are performative—meant to smooth things over for the sake of the show rather than from the heart. But that seems to be true of a lot of apologies in real life. When someone says, “I’m sorry if you were offended by what I said or did,” they aren’t apologizing, they’re criticizing the other person for not correctly understanding the original intent. That’s a counterfeit apology and makes the apologist look even worse.
A few years ago, I got mad at someone over something very minor. I snapped at him. I seethed afterward—not just at what he’d done, but also at my unjustified overreaction. I was embarrassed at my childishness. The next time I saw him, I apologized for my stupidity. He also apologized for snapping back but I told him he had every right to and not to worry about it. The incident was entirely my fault. We shook hands and have been sincerely friendly whenever we see each other. I’d like to say that it took no effort from me to apologize because I knew I was in the wrong and that’s what grown-ups do. But it actually did take some emotional effort to face him and apologize.
Maybe a sincere apology should be difficult because you’re sacrificing your ego. The easier an apology is, the less it is real and seems more like a way to gain something rather than a sacrifice. It should feel like a sacrifice. It should be humbling.
After my apology, I felt lighter. It was like having a splinter pulled from under my fingernail. Maybe the lightness came from a feeling of hope that I would behave better in the future, knowing the unnecessary hurt I had caused both of us. We’ll see.