A switch in time saves nine doc

It seems as we all, at one time or another, a person feel the need to explain why something happened or didn’t happen, to assign blame.. It is a way of assigning blame to something else,

A switch in time saves nine

“A switch in time saves nine” Discuss this sentence.

This is an old proverb Though the saying is old, yet its

wisdom always holds good Most of us is familiar with

other proverbs like, “Time and tide wait for no man” We

must not postpone doing something for tomorrow which

can possibly be done today History has many examples

of persons who, having once lost an opportunity, had no

repent it throughout the rest of their lives “Today is ours,

tomorrow belongs to the enemy”

In our own life whether private or public, we will realize

sooner or later the truth of the proverb

What do you think of the defense?

Everyone makes excuses Who hasn’t said, “Oh, it’s so

hot I just can’t go outside and wash the car,” or “he made

me do it,” or “I had a terrible headache” It seems as we

all, at one time or another, a person feel the need to

explain why something happened or didn’t happen, to

assign blame Because we all do it, making excuses may

seem innocent enough Certain excuses, sometimes

called “little white lies”, perform a social function of

smoothing over a potentially disagreeable situation No

one is truly deceived and perhaps no harm is done Most

excuses are not so innocent They are intended to

deceive While it may seem we intend to deceive others, it

is really ourselves that we are deceiving Making excuses

is a way of not taking responsibility for our actions It is a

way of assigning blame to something else, someone else,

or even our mental or physical state so that we do not

have to look at ourselves

We can escape blame by pointing the finger at forces or

circumstances outside ourselves You may say, “I couldn’t

possibly write a good essay It was forty degrees in the

room There was no air conditioning It was just too hot”

Since you have no control over the heat, you are

exonerated It’s not your fault Perhaps you’ve heard

someone say to the teacher, “I’m sorry I missed class

today, my car ran out of gas on the freeway” The person

is not responsible Right? There are forces outside our

control that intervene and prevent us from doing

something These might be valid reasons for why

something was or was not accomplished They might not

be excuses The important thing is to look at the

circumstances and determine our own attitude and

reaction Are we blaming a force outside for our own

inability? If so, we are making an excuse

We can blame other people This type of excuse lets you

of the hook because you are not responsible: someone

else is Typical examples include: “Well, it wasn’t my idea

to cheat on the test Bill suggested it and I just went along

with him.”, “I got a bad grade in that course because the

teacher didn’t make it interesting.”, “I didn’t get a raise

because my boss is so stingy” and “I know my child is

naughty but his mother spoils him so” The person making

the excuse is not taking his or her responsibility Passing

the buck is a special kind This kind of excuse making

often occurs in large companies and government

bureaucracies Let’s say a company loses a million dollars

because of a bad investment The president of the

company blames the vice-president who advised him The

vice-president passes the buck to one of her analysts who

had done the research The blame gets passed from

person to person and maybe to the computer, with no one

over taking responsibility for the error It is easier to look

outside ourselves and assign blame than to look at

ourselves and our true capabilities

Excuses closest to home are those in which we blame our

own mental or physical state, but at the same time do not

accept responsibility for them It is as if our body and mind

are separate from us and can be blamed Here you have

the psychosomatic excuses: “I had such a headache I

couldn’t write my report” At times we are truly sick The

problem is in determining when we use our physical state

as a way of avoiding something we consider unpleasant

We blame our inaction or inability on our mental state “I

was so depressed about my family I didn’t study for the

exam.” “I wasn’t in the mood to go to that party and see all

those strangers.” “I was so excited I just didn’t think about

the consequences.” Excuses allow us to avoid looking at

ourselves and the problems that we face

We all make excuses They are not necessarily healthy for

us When we look at ourselves, at circumstances, or at our

own physical and mental state, we do not have to look at

ourselves and see something unpleasant

We do not take responsibility for ourselves and our

actions Our physical and mental health depends on our

ability to solve problems If we are to solve the problems

that confront us, we must look through our excuses and

see ourselves