A bratty kid, an ice sculpture, and self-dignity

I hate making mistakes. The worst thing about making mistakes is having to admit them and apologize or make amends. What's even worse about that whole process is if it wasn't even a mistake to begin with, but I forced myself to apologize for something I'm not sorry about and amend something that I don't believe I made a mistake about.

It's like if some important person I know was at a party with his bratty kid, and I happened to be there, and the bratty kid pushes me into the hor d'oevres stand, and I knock over the ice sculpture swan and make a mess of the whole party. People would point, laugh, frown at me for being a klutz, and immediately I would get up, grab the brat by the arm and take him to his parents and say, "Your child pushed me into the ice sculpture and I broke the table and my butt." And of course, his rich important parents would say, "Why that's impossible, we're rich and important and our child is a perfect angel. You've made a mistake. You're probably the clumsy one." And then everyone around me (who would also happen to be rich and important) would frown and give me dirty looks because how could someone as lame as me blame the son of this rich important person? After thinking about how stupid it would make me look in the newspapers and popular blogs, I would then swallow what's left of my pride, bite my tongue, and go back to the important people and say, "I apologize for my swift judgement back there, I was mistaken about what happened. I certainly was the clumsy one and knocked myself into the hor d'oevres; your son did not push me. I'm sorry." Then people would be like, "Oh! How charming" and go on with their champagne and bland conversation. I would then leave the party feeling like a complete idiot, but all the other people would leave feeling ok.

Then I'd go home and stew about whether I should have apologized. I mean, clearly the brat pushed me. And clearly he needs to be punished. Obviously, his parents would never do that because they don't do that sort of thing and don't believe their kid needs it. But then again, is it worth being ostracized by everyone else in the world just to maintain my own self-dignity and pride? Sometimes I guess it isn't.