Thank you for another lovely submission, Wayne. You made many excellent points here about marriage and about being in the same boat - or I'd like to call it, on the same side.

For those day-to-day issues that come up, this is a healthy approach, and is likely to inspire the other partner to do the same if the relationship is sound.

Although I agree with what you've said here, many relationships are not all that healthy - even if they get on all right in many ways.

However, in relationships like that, there are times when someone has been hurtful or disrespectful and truly ought to be the one to apologise, and in those instances, I don't think it's right to say "I'm sorry" if you really aren't in the wrong, but the other person seriously IS.

There are those situations where it's not okay to suck it up if someone has violated boundaries or showed disloyalty or done something that goes against the marriage etc. When we don't stand up for ourselves and be assertive when it counts, the marriage becomes an unhealthy place where it's okay to be disrespectful to a spouse because the spouse will just take it and say "I'm sorry" and allow the offending behaviour to continue.

It's great that you and your wife have a solid marriage - and I definitely agree with you about apologising NOT being a sign of weakness in men. It is a sign of strength, and of love and respect for their partners.

Beautiful piece, Wayne, so insightful! Thanks so much for sharing this on HHH!