We value apology in the abstract, but turn our backs on it in practice.
You don't have to see eye-to-eye to walk hand-in-hand. You just have to want to go in the same direction.
An effective apology contains within it the answer to the question, "How am I to be held accountable?"
You can't talk your way out of a situation you acted you way into.
An apology informed is good; an apology performed is better.
Apology may start as a feeling, a desire to make matters right, but it requires a commitment to move that desire into practice, to actually take on the great courageous task of showing compassion to others.