I was going to make this Jesusmas Week but I had a realization while responding to a post by my friend Crystal Andrus about blame and this quote came out of it.
Think about it, what do you learn when you make an excuse? You learn nothing. Excuses are way of getting out of trouble, or explaining away deficiencies & failures. They are ways of avoiding responsibility. One doesn’t learn anything from those things.
Here are two different explanations of the exact same event. One is an excuse; My alarm didn’t go off like it should have, that’s why I was late’. The other is a reason; ‘I didn’t properly set my alarm, that is why I am late’. One has a lessen attached; double check that you set your alarm properly. The other has no lesson, it’s said in the hope of not having someone get mad at you.
To learn lessons from life, both think AND verbalize so you are stating a reason, not making an excuse.
More differences:
The old saying is ‘Everything happens for a reason’ not ‘Everything happens for an excuse’.
You MAKE an excuse, but you HAVE a reason.
Nobody ever says ‘Reasons, reasons’.
When someone sneezes, they don’t say ‘reason me’.
What are some other differences?
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Drawing, commentary and quote by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
