Excuses

They say that the thing you hate most in someone else, you usually hate most about yourself.

I hate excuses. Crappy reasons to justify doing or not doing something. A rationalization or justification to do something.

For instance, while I fully believe that women should be able to do what they want with their bodies, I hate when women get an abortion and say, "Well, I didn't mean to get pregnant." Seriously? That's your excuse? Or insert any number of condom/pill/other failed methods of preventing said pregnancy.

Or excuses we all give for not calling, for not visiting, for forgetting. Yes, we're all busy. Yes, we get distracted. But why do we make the excuses?

My friend from Germany said that it is especially bad in America. People that will say, "Yeah, yeah, we should definitely hang out." And then never do. Never call. Never follow through.

I've done it. We all do it. But WHY? Especially when we all know how crappy it is to be handed an excuse. To be handed a pathetic reason for missing a planned get together. And I'm not talking about emergencies. I mean, there have been several times I've planned on attending some party or dinner when I call the friend hosting and say, "I just can't... I'm just not in the mood." Some friends are able to coax me out of this introverted homebody tendency and get me out despite my protests but most just say they'll miss me and okay.

I'm not sure why we do it. But we do. A lot. Provide excuses for not doing things we don't want to do... instead of just saying we don't want to do them. Excuses for being too busy and missing an important meeting. I don't think my not wanting to hurt your feeling or being over scheduled is a good excuse.

Perhaps the solution is to say what we mean and to slow down more. To make the appointments we set. To show up. To call. To do.

*writes on To Do list "Make Pastoral Visits"*

*big sigh*