An excuse is an explanation of a special sort

 At the risk of realism vs. idealist, school vs. hobby, intellect vs. creativity, grades/money vs. life, later vs. now, I am venturing a blog post. I am going to make this short and not worry too much about its clarity for I have way too many blog posts, sitting unfinished, waiting their turn to be published. Yet,  they are unfinished for one reason or another – now, am I making an excuse? Or merely explaining my situation?

I was looking through mugs of all sorts, and I found one that I loved which said, “Live with no excuses, love with no regrets.” I felt fairly satisfied with my fulfillment of the latter, which I’ve always recognized as an ideal. However, the former has rarely made it to facebook  statuses, my post-its, my cliché advice/conversations, my posters, (and since I did not end up buying the mug, my mugs), etc.

I have made many excuses for the way I live. I still do. This mug was a reminder that I do not WANT to do so, and that I need to add an ideal among the many in the set of ideals I have decided to follow. Nevertheless, it is important for me to consider how to distinguish an explanation from an excuse. When can these two be confused? And where is that thin line? Or perhaps it is not thin at all…(rendering this post  to be meaningless)

Sometimes, a simple dictionary definition is a reminder. When all else gets muddled, let’s root it back.

Excuse is defined as:

(Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/excusing)

noun

8. an explanation offered as a reason for being excused; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault or for release from an obligation, promise, etc.: His excuse for being late was unacceptable.

9. a ground or reason for excusing or being excused: Ignorance is no excuse.

10. the act of excusing someone or something.

11. a pretext or subterfuge: He uses his poor health as an excuse for evading all responsibility.

12. an inferior or inadequate specimen of something specified: That coward is barely an excuse for a man. Her latest effort is a poor excuse for a novel.

Explanation is defined as:

(Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/explanation?s=t)

noun

1. the act or process of explaining.

2. something that explains; a statement made to clarify something and make it understandable; exposition: an explanation of a poem.

3. a meaning or interpretation: to find an explanation for a mystery.

4. a mutual declaration of the meaning of words spoken, actions, motives, etc., with a view to adjusting a misunderstanding or reconciling differences: After a long and emotional explanation they were friends again.

I wanted to share my dictionary search with you all. In hindsight, it is pretty simple for me to realize and remember the lesson which may in the future, prevent me from excusing myself from giving explanations due to fear of excusing. I often am scared of explaining because I don’t like making excuses for myself, and sometimes unrealizingly, in my attempt to “explain” I might be excusing myself. As long as I explain, without the plea/request/or intent of asking for forgiveness, without the fear of judgment, I think I am okay to feel like I “explained”.  

P.S. The many “versus”(s) of this post may not be at odds after all – perhaps I will get to address that in my posts to follow, which I plan on naming – Bubbles.