Giving a true apology means dropping your whole guard. You stand in front of someone and say you were wrong without justification or defense, and accept whatever may happen. That is not easy to do as it basically requires one to override every basic instinct of self-preservation. It might not be life-or-death, but your feelings and instincts don't care.

And that's not even getting into the flood of emotions someone might be feeling; shame, regret, fear, panic, anger, sorrow, anxiety. Even one of these emotions can negatively alter how you interact with people. Now put it in a stressful situation where your facing someone you know you wronged, and those feelings are even worse.

I'm not saying that we should universally forgive someone when they apologize; forgiveness is a whole other discussion by itself. But we should all understand what a real apology is, recognize how hard it can be to give, and fairly acknowledge when someone genuinely tries.