josh blog
Ordinary language is all right.
One could divide humanity into two classes:
those who master a metaphor, and those who hold by a formula.
Those with a bent for both are too few, they do not comprise a class.
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With whom, for whom, to whom, do others do what they do? Us, sometimes; but also others still. So our interest in what others do may range far.
You might try to set things right or make things even to make good on an apology. In confessing, what you owe is the truth. To whom is it owed?
If you're guilty, you're meant to pay; if you're ashamed, you're already paying—or overpaying.
We confess guilt to those we have wronged; and to others who may hardly know us. (This is one way confession can be hard; as if we are introducing ourselves as bad people.)
To confess shame we may need those who know us best; we need not have wronged them, nor even to have done anything they would fault us for.
What's between us is sometimes what we let pass; and sometimes what we refuse to let pass, if only between us.