Is it so hard to say "I'm sorry?"

In the midst of all the fuss about whether or not Jennifer Wilbanks is selfish or misunderstood, you can get an important cue from her parents.

Last week, when Jennifer was missing and presumed dead, the family lined up three deep for a news conference where they tearfully begged the community for its help.

Deluth, Ga., responded with over 100 volunteers forming search parties that worked around the clock to find the missing bride. Of course, now we've learned that Jennifer skipped town in an attempt to side step the wedding.

Since returning home, there's been a small chorus rising that Jennifer was just acting selfishly and should realize some consequence for her choices. Expect it to continue its crescendo. Why? The family has been unable to muster the one thing that could possibly work to dampen this feeling of betrayal, an apology. It's been almost 48 hours since her discovery and we've heard nothing from the family.

Jennifer is supposed to hold a news conference to say something, sometime. We know she's crazy, but what I find odd is that we've not heard a word from her parents. These are the same people who mobilized their community in what turned out to be a hoax, and now they are silent. Nothing more to say? How about sorry. How about thank you.

With all the family members who were free to line up when they thought Jennifer was missing, you'd think ONE of them could find the time now that she's surfaced. They wouldn't even have to turn on her. They could say something like this.

"Last week we prayed that Jennifer would return to us alive, and she did. For that we are extremely grateful. Even if a wound is self-inflicted, we still count our blessings when it isn't fatal. Last week, we asked for our community's help, and we were overwhelmed with the response. We always thought of our community as a family and last week, at our lowest point, you proved us right.

Sometimes in families, our family members disappoint us. In those times, we try to teach, practice and pray for forgiveness, healing, and love. This is a time where we've been obviously disappointed. We ask you to show the same forgiveness, healing, and love that we would give to any other person in our family who has disappointed us.

There is still much we need to learn, to get to the root causes and begin the process of recovery. We ask for your prayers as we undertake that journey. Finally, in this world that we live in, it could be an unfortunate reality that someone else in this community may need to call on your generosity and sup-port for a family member who might be missing. We all hope and pray that our situation will not dampen the spirit of love that we experienced. You can count on us to be in the number volunteering our support should that occur. Thanks again for your support and love. You make us proud to be citizens of Deluth."

See how easy that was. But we still haven't heard any reasonable facsimile. And if the parents don't have the decency to apologize, how can you expect the daughter to?

There's an old saying, "the fruit don't fall far from the tree.