The Fight

  "Ladies and Gentlemen", (read this in your ring announcer voice), "in this corner, wearing the gold trunks, we have Reasons. He is looking good tonight. His fighting record is undefeated! Oh, but wait dear friend, the contender has just entered the ring. The crowd is going wild, clearly he is the crowd favorite. He has never won a battle but they all love him, Excuses." (Insert crowd noise and applause here)

  The battle between Reasons and Excuses. Seems simple when you read it. Ah, things are never that simple, are they?

   When we have a reason for something, it never brings  guilt or shame. Even if others wonder if your reason is correct, it doesn't matter. There is a reason and others can stuff it.

  But those excuses! We always hope others will see them as reasons. They seldom do! We all try to be kind and gentle, but excuses drive everyone bonkers.

  How do we get from excuses to reasons then? Is there some magic pixie dust we can sprinkle or a cup of unicorn tears we can drink that will magically change us? (By the way, unicorn tear powered cars are awesome!)

  Back to the story.

  Often times we have no reason for something. Take our choice in food. Their is seldom an allergy to something, it is usually just personal choice. Why do we offer excuses for our personal preferences?

  Think about it! We think we are being more acceptable to others by giving them an excuse about food, rather than just saying, "I don't have to have a reason to dislike that food, I just don't".

  Okay, that makes sense for food, but serious matters are much more difficult to deal with. I will ask a tough question then try to answer the question.

  Is it ever ok to offer an excuse for the behavior of myself or someone I love? Keep in mind excuses are at their core lies.

  Um, I was going to answer that but my pen is running low on ink and I don't have another. Darn. Next time folks!

  (Back to the announcer) "Its been an epic battle. The crowd was so excited about the fight. Excuses never got a punch in, but he is so fast on his feet, it took Reason three rounds to knock him down. The first and only punch thrown by Reasons was a knockout blow! Tune in next week friends."

  Next weeks battle (cue the trumpets please)
Compassion versus Enabling, its an epic battle to the death!