Excuses

One of the obvious evidences of man’s ingenuity is the excuses he makes. The variety and plausibility of our explanations, to ourselves and to others, for our failures to perform, sometimes seem to exceed the fabrications of fiction. We explain why we didn’t finish school, why we didn’t pay a debt, why we don’t break a bad habit, why we dropped the ball, why we were late, why we weren’t there, why we failed in marriage, why we didn’t accept an assignment, why we didn’t keep our word, why we departed from a principle, why we didn’t deliver on the promised date. We can explain them all – these, and ten thousand other things – sometimes sincerely, sometimes superficially. Excuses are often valid and sincere and acceptable. Courts of law recognize that there can be real reasons for failure to perform. There are acts of God, so-called, and circumstances and situations which make it physically, practically, literally impossible to do some things we should have done or said we would do. And there are laws that give relief to there person who has done his best and who finds it impossible to go beyond his best. But not so with him who confronts his friends or fellow men or his eternal Father with specious, shoddy, superficial reasons for his failures. And this we must remember: No matter how good an excuse may be, no reason for failure or defection is ever as satisfying to ourselves or anyone else as is actually doing what we should do, or actually delivering on the date that something is due. Excuses are at best a second-choice substitute. One of the surest qualities of success is to follow through, to keep commitments, to do what we should or said we would do, and no matter how ingenious our excuses are, they can’t cancel commitments, or justify our failures unless they are founded on real and valid reasons – and not merely for our comfort or convenience.