A Public Apology To Another AAPK Member

[KLJ77]

Admin; if this is in the wrong place, please move to appropriate forum. I just wanted exposure on behalf of Phaeton and what he did for me.


For those who take a moment to read this, I trust you’ll be blessed by this, for it is an amazing experience of contriteness, humbleness, forgiveness and hopefully, revitalizing a friendship.

As some of you may know, and/or remember, last mid-June timeframe, an AAPK member placed a very nice Buck 401 Kalinga Chipflint knife w/Buffalo Horn handles up for sale in the ‘want ads’ sub-forum. I PM’d him about my desire to purchase this knife. We traded PM’s and emails and agreed upon an equitable & fair price.

However, due to extenuating circumstances and lost emails, along with misunderstandings, hurt feelings and accusations from both sides, the agreement and sale of the knife did not come to fruition. Conversations got way out of hand where disappointment was experienced by us both, and the beginning of a Friendship did not emerge in the way either of us desired. So, as of 31 July, the agreed upon transaction was laid to rest and two people filled with their own personal pride about who was right and who was wrong lost contentment, happiness and a friendship. I won’t go any deeper into this, for this story is NOT about the past, but about how a man who presented contriteness of heart and a willingness and desire to make things right…this man who goes by Phaeton on AAPK.

Here’s the best, and most awesome part of this story.

On 17 August, I received a PM asking for my mailing address because he had a beautiful Buck 401 Buffalo Chipflint knife he wanted to send me. It was stated that; Phaelon had contacted him, requesting that he forward this knife to me, because he wanted it to be owned by someone who desired it and would appreciate having it…or words to that effect. Well, one can only imagine my shock and awe at receiving this news. No way can this be true, not after what I said to Phaelon in emails and wrongfully accused him of something he didn’t do because of misunderstandings and other innuendos.

This person and I conversed via emails / PM’s regarding this surprising event and came to personal conclusions that Phaeton was sincere and apologetic for his part regarding our past altercation(s). But the most amazing part about this gesture and heartfelt kindness is; Phaelon STILL wanted me to have this knife.

Now, I don’t know about you, but to me, this is a man of GREAT integrity, sincerity and contriteness to want to do this…and me not even aware he is doing this until I was notified. I can’t tell you how humbling this was for me, and it brought me to my knees. To know that I was receiving something, with no mention of price, from someone whom I thought I would never talk to again, let alone him talking to me. Can anyone grasp the enormity of this kindness, of this grace and humility? I’m getting emotional just typing this out. My gratitude was overflowing, and my willingness to make amends with Phaeton was strong…he obviously forgave me for my attitude and wrongs.

On 19 August, I received the knife…and I went back and counted all the Kalinga’s in my collection, and this one will be the highest prized Kalinga of the 12 I have, because of the true meaning of how I became the owner of such an awesome knife. It has the lesson of humbleness, contriteness, forgiveness, sincerity and the willingness to lay aside one’s pride and, for whatever other reasons unknown to me, to follow through in giving something to another without asking for anything in return. Whenever I look at this Kalinga, I will be blessed due to the desires of one man’s heart. One day, I will pay this forward.

In closing, I’ll just say that; I can be kind of cantankerous and overly opinionated at times…and become aggressive in my speech, and this part of me can tend to turn people off. I believe that’s exactly what I did regarding the breakdown of this initial agreement…and I take ownership of that, and I am not proud of the way I came across to Phaelon during our private conversations. Sometimes, the typed word loses its real meaning in the minutia of how things are stated, interpreted and analyzed and gets misconstrued and misinterpreted; however, I DO NOT say that to justify how I came across to him. Hopefully, he’ll forgive me and he’ll want to revitalize our initial Friendship and still want to be an active member of AAPK.

I have emailed Phaeton and apologized for my attitude toward him and asked for his forgiveness. At this time, I do not know if he even read the email…I hope he did.

Mr. Olson (Phaeton), if perhaps you are perusing this forum and read this, I humbly request that you PM me or email me with your mailing address so that I can follow through with our agreed upon price for this knife and send you payment. I want to abide by my part and do the right thing. Please don’t shut me out. Let’s make this right and renew a Friendship that we both were seeking in the beginning.

I normally would not hang out my dirty laundry publicly, but I wanted everyone to know how gracious and humble Mr. Olson has been and what he did on my behalf. I am truly humbled by his gesture of kindness.

Thank You Dale, for all you did in interceding between Mr. Olson and myself. I appreciate all you have done regarding this.

My most humble respects…I don’t know what more I can say or do to make this right.

LJ

[doglegg]

Pride is a bitter pill when swallowed but a health one. Thanks for sharing.

[jerryd6818]

It takes a big man to admit he's wrong. You are a big man Ken. Much respect.

[glennbad]

Humility is right up there with honesty, Ken!

[Madmarco]

It takes sincere humility to expose such a situation for all to see Ken, and you should be at peace with your part in the whole deal. Whether Mr. Olson forgives you or not, you've done your best to rectify a very uncomfortable, unfortunate interaction between the two of you. I had a somewhat similar thing happen to me, and I couldn't get it to stop gnawing away at my psych until I sent a message to the other party stating my faults in the matter, with no mention of the other fella's indiscretions whatsoever, and even though I still felt I was right, I had to apologize for my accusations, name-calling, etc. before I felt any relief. Probably the best part of the entire situation was him messaging me back with the same apologies I had expressed to him. He also surprised the heck out of me by refunding 1/2 my money, which I almost felt guilty about, but he said he was glad to do it just to be sure I was a satisfied customer. He did this AFTER informing me he wouldn't be shipping his products outside the US anymore, so there was no chance of any return business, but he did it anyway. I was extremely happy that we had come to a mutually agreeable solution because I later found him here on AAPK as a member/seller, and had there still been bad blood between us things could have been quite awkward. So you've done your part Ken, now be at peace with it, you did the right thing!

[peanut740]

Well said and done!

[Reverand]

This has deepened my respect for both of you.

[treefarmer]

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing. God bless all who are involved.
Treefarmer

[jmh58]

John

[RobesonsRme.com]

The knife in your possession tells me you’ve been forgiven.

The fact that he sent it via a third party tells me he’s not very proud of his actions in this, either.

You both have been blessed through this because all things work for the good of all that love the Lord.

Enjoy that knife. It’s not a knife. It’s a token.

Charlie Noyes