In Honor of the Presidents...

Today is President's Day - a U.S. federal holiday that is celebrated every year on the third Monday of February.  While President's Day was originally set to honor the birthday of the very first President of the United States, George Washington (whose actual birthday was February 22, 1732) and later the birthday of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (whose actual birthday was February 12, 1809), the holiday is often a celebration of all of the men (I emphasize "men" because the United States has yet to elect a female President) who have served as President.  Today, however, I will choose to simply honor our first.  I will do so with a quote by President Washington that I particularly find of value:


"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."


Okay - I will confess that I do not know exactly when President Washington said the quote, but it is clear that he did not like to hear excuses!  It is interesting to look up the definition of excuse on the Google dictionary.  The word "excuse" can be used as either a verb (meaning, "to attempt to lessen the blame attaching to a fault or offense") or a noun (meaning, "a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense").  When defined in this manner, I can appreciate why President Washington did not like to hear excuses.  Why would anyone try to "defend or justify" something that they did wrong instead of just admitting it? 


Pope John Paul II also did not like excuses - he reportedly said, "An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded." 


Benjamin Franklin went further and said, "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."


Finally, George Washington Carver said, "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."


In other words, no one likes to hear excuses.  When you do something wrong, own up to it and admit it.  Learn from your mistakes.  Move on.  President Washington offers us some very good advice.  Today, on the day that we celebrate his birthday, we should all pay attention.