Aron+E's+OpEd+Article

I was in a running group when I was younger. There were about ten of us, and generally everyone came and had a good time. However occasionally kids wouldn’t want to go, as was natural seeing as they were 10, and instead of admitting that, they came up with the most elaborate excuses. They ranged from “I’m sick” to “My great grand-parents just came to town” however my all-time favorite was “I can’t go running because my tree died and I’m in mourning.” This is acceptable behavior for a little kid, as are many other annoying but retrospectively adorable things. However when it comes to excuses people don’t grow out of them like they do with temper tantrums. No, instead they simply learn to adapt, become more believable and cleverer. Teenagers and adults no longer profess fake emotional attachment to a tree, rather they claim that their cell phones died, or they never received the text. Or perhaps it is that their internet is down, they have too much homework, or they need to pick their brother up at the airport. Regardless of how it is said, an excuse is an excuse and they annoy me to no end. If you don’t want to go somewhere, for god’s sake have to chutzpah to say it, instead of hiding behind some mythical electrical failure. I would respect you far more as a person if you told me that you didn’t want to go the park and play croquet, rather than claim that you have to do chores for 12 hours.

This same principal applies owning up to one’s failures. I know Kevin likes to say “Whatever went wrong…it’s definitely somebody else’s fault.” Unfortunately far too many people automatically adopt this attitude, and refuse to either see the error of their ways or the flaws in their techniques. Excuses and Justifications prevent real progress and real growth, and if we hope to ever achieve some sort of human moral utopia, that needs to change. Not just on an individual scale, but on a much larger one. In the 2008 economic collapse large businesses had a massive share of the responsibility, but none of the large business ever admitted that. Even after the BP oil spill the company never claimed legitimate responsibility, but rather did whatever it took to be the least liable. However when the tables are turned, when any benefits are noticeable, all peoples and businesses clamor to get a share of the fame.

I guess my main issue is twofold. The first is people’s wussiness in terms of confrontation causing them to lie, and the second is people’s excessive pride. These both stem from excuses though, which really need to stop. And I’m sure that everyone would stop telling excuses, if it weren’t for the fact that their dogs ate their books on how to stop.

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