fishbowl sympathies

I didn't see Obama make his now-famous slip on the Jay Leno show about his bowling score qualifying him for the Special Olympics (he missed the time that I barely bowled a 50). He made an off-color joke. We've all made them, not thinking, not sensitized. We've all been stupid with our words. (Should I ask you when the last time someone (yourself included) used the word "gay" in a derrogatory manner and no correction was given?)

Our words come back and bite us in the tuchas. Obama's tuchas bite came quickly. Within his time on air, he came back and made his apologies. Done and over except that Obama lives in the world's smallest human fishbowl and people like to wipe their finger smudges on his glass as much as possible.

I was aghast this weekend when I overheard several people disparaging him for making a mistake. "He should know better." "What a fool." "I can't believe he was so offensive." Sure, they can be offended by his words, but they have to accept his apology (why? because it was sincere. because we've all made a bad joke, even if only quietly in our head.) And accepting an apology means shutting up about it and letting more important things rise to the surface.

My sympathies lie with the public figure on this one because fishbowls can be suffocating. He certainly "chose the life," but that doesn't mean I can't be gracious in accepting his apologies when he makes an honest mistake.