Some people spend their whole lives apologizing for taking up space. SORRY was inspired by a woman I saw on TikTok who spent years helping struggling people for free. Cleaning homes. Carrying groceries. Helping people who had almost given up on themselves. Then she broke her arm. Instead of asking for help, she apologized to everyone she could no longer help. This song is for the quiet people. The ones who hold the door open longest. The ones who move aside in escalators. The ones who apologize even when life was harder on them than most people will ever understand. -------SORRY------- SORRY At some point some people start saying sorry before they’ve actually done anything. Nothing dramatic. Just small things. Escalators. Doorways. Late-night grocery stores. An old man dropped coins inside a convenience store. Metal against the floor. Nobody said anything. Still, he apologized for every single coin. Like his hands were taking too long for the rest of the world. It’s usually those people who hold the door open longest. They stand on the right side of escalators even when their knees hurt. They smile at cashiers who never look up. I saw a woman on TikTok once. She said she was tired of apologizing all the time. She had spent years helping people for free. Cleaning kitchens. Carrying groceries. Tidying apartments. People who had almost given up on themselves. She said it made her feel calm. Like it was easier to repair other people than sit alone with herself. Then she broke her arm. After that she started sending messages to people she normally helped. Sorry. I can’t do it this week. Sorry. My arm still isn’t right. Like her pain had created inconvenience for everybody else. Night buses. Wet pavement. People smelling like rain. I sat next to a homeless man once. Every time his elbow barely touched my seat he apologized almost before it happened. The strange thing is those people are usually the easiest to be around. They try to make themselves smaller in doorways. And if you tell them you don’t have to apologize they look at you like you just spoke a language they’ve never heard before. And tomorrow they’ll probably let somebody walk ahead of them on the escalator again.
