Should I read his letter of apology?

Question

If you receive a letter of apology via snail mail and from someone in another country, should you read it or tear it up? I have a friend who mad me made a few weeks ago and he has been trying to contact me, to apologize and I have ignored his earlier attempts, but just received his letter today and not sure what to do with it.

Answer 1

It shows maturity to at least read his letter of apology.  He must sincerely feel sorry if he emailed and got no reply and then went through the trouble to send a letter from abroad. I would think you owe him to read his reply...

Answer 2

It depends on what he did to make you mad.  If you want to cut off all contact, throw the letter away.  Me, I get so few real letters via snail mail I would have to read it!  If I didn't like what it said, I wouldn't acknowledge it.  Also, I noticed you said it was from another country.  If he is from another culture, perhaps it was just miscommunication, and he can better explain it in writing.

Answer 3

Read the letter. It may explain why he did whatever it was he did that made you mad. And you may decide to accept his apology and forgive him.

Otherwise, what's left to do but stay mad the rest of your life and what's the point of that?

Read it - see if his apology is sincere and think about it.

Good luck!

Answer 4

absolutely, haven't you ever read pride and prejudice? That might be unbearable, for the other person to be left waiting for some sort of reply.

Answer 5

At least he is willing to apologize, apologies are hard to come by these days! if this person is really sincere and recognized his mistakes and sat down, to take the time to reflect and put down on a piece of paper his toughts that directed to you when he wrote the letter, than take the time to read it, and if you value his friendship you will accept the apology .

Answer 6

It is never easy to apologise. Grow up and read his letter and forgive him. Life's too short for c**p like this.

Answer 7

Yes you should read it, a friend is too important to lose over a misunderstanding.  

Answer 8

You didn't say WHY he is apologizing beyond that he made you mad.  Hopefully, not because he wiped out your family or something like that.

Your ignoring his attempts to apologize is not admirable.  You are torturing him and that's nothing you want on your résumé.

A letter by snail mail?  You should be thrilled.  In this day and age, it's usually only bills.

Read the letter, accept the apology, learn from this so that it doesn't happen again and strike a blow against superficiality.

Actually, I thought your statement that "he made me mad" was cute.  It reminds me of what my Mom and Dad used to tell me when I told them I was "mad:"  Oh, you're mad?  Then you'll just have to get glad!

Answer 9

Of course read it. Aren't you even curious? Give him a chance. Even if whatever he said or did was cosmically unforgivable, you owe it to your former friendship to at least read his apology and inform him of your failure to accept it. But better still, accept it and move on.

Answer 10

Here is the harder, more noble thing to do:

Accept the apology at face value and be ready to forgive.  Building and maintaining relationships takes effort and sacrifice.  He has humbled himself, and I think you should too.

I do not know what the matter is, but he has approached you on numerous occasions, and he sees very good personal reasons to stand up and take the responsibility for whatever happened.  That he took the effort to use snail mail when other moves to contact you did not work shows something of his character.  Show something of yours and move on.  This person still values you.  Be that strong and dependable friend again, and accept the apology and, if you can, re-build the friendship.

I wish you well, and hope you profit from this, both you and your friend

Answer 11

READ IT!!!! stupid fights like yours are what ruin friendships! and by the way, its "made me mad" not "mad me made" .

Answer 12

I'd advise to read the mail. Reading it will not tie you or pressure to make any decision. You can read it and then make up your mind whether you want to give that person another chance or not.

I think an argument should always be viewed from both points of views. You know yours. Why not read his and then decide?