Love means never having to say you're sorry

The saying goes "love means never having to say you're sorry". What in the world does this mean? Where in the world does it come from? And how many problems has it not caused? 

First things first, "Love means never having to say you're sorry" is a line from the novel and 1970 film Love Story starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal. So, essentially it's a cheesy movie quote from a romantic comedy that's over 40 years old. 


Secondly, in my opinion, as a stand alone line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," seems hollow and useless at best, and just plain contradictory to the truth of loving relationships, at worst. Having never seen Love Story, maybe I will never be able to put it in its intended context, but the line is used more often than not as a stand alone without any specific context. 


Thirdly, if someone were to use this line as an excuse to not apologize for their wrongdoings and to not atone for their mistakes, then the line has nothing to do with love and everything to do with self interest and pride. 


However, what if one travels beyond the literal and dig a little deeper beneath the words of this quote which, in my mind, has been abused by lovers everywhere? What if the lesson is forgiveness? What if true love means that forgiveness can reign even before the one who is being forgiven has had the opportunity to apologize for whatever transgression they have committed? 


I believe that love actually means that once you realize that you have hurt a loved one, or acted against the interests of a loved one, or was just being a jerk, that you will quickly be filled with remorse and it will be easy for you to apologize, and you will WANT to apologize. On the flip side, love means accepting an apology, and forgiving the other person, sometimes even before they've said the words "I'm sorry". 


But that's just what I think. What I KNOW is that I apologize and that I forgive. No one is perfect, and life is not always a smooth ride. Remorse and forgiveness I think is what lies at the core of the oft parodied quote from Love Story.