And Then Some News

Thursday Essay Preview

The first paragraph of Thursday's essay, "Excuses," reads as follows:

Having been a college teacher for thirty years, I heard all kinds of excuses. That doesn't mean that some weren't actually legitimate. After all, I was a college student myself. But I thought that, in many cases, students were the product of, or in the process of establishing, a weak/poor precedent. A history of using excuses as a foundation for poor performance is like putting insulation into an attic where there is already a roof leak, moisture is present, and there is poor venting and weak ventilation. Using excuses—and not taking personal responsibility for one’s performance—is attracting failure like a magnet, just as putting insulation in an attic with the features just described will just as certainly attract mold.

The final paragraph in Thursday's essay is:

I love what George Washington Carver said about making excuses. He said, "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses." The day you stop making excuses, is the day you take complete responsibility for your life, and that is the day, too, you begin your journey of growing, developing, and changing in positive directions.