Have you noticed that people don’t like to say,
“I’m making this decision because it’s convenient for me. It may hurt others. It may even hurt them a lot, but my convenience is more important.”
They don’t like to say it because it forces them to face up to their own selfishness. While I’d love to say something warm and supportive, like, “You go, Girl! You deserve to put your convenience ahead of your responsibilities to your family, community, etc.”
Sadly, I don’t believe it.
Here are some of the excuses I’ve recently heard for people justifying doing crappy things to other people so they don’t have to take responsibility for owning their own actions:
- Convenience. Yes, I believe loyalty is important to employees. But it’s hard to reduce costs in meaningful ways. Layoffs are just the obvious choice.
- Groupthink. Everyone else does it, so if I’m wrong, then so is everyone else. (And yeah, you’re right about that.)
- Someone-think. If I didn’t do it, someone else would.
- Kids. My favorite. Blame it on devotion to the kids. I love environmentalists who claim to care about their kids’ future, while driving convenient minivans that help guarantee their kids will suffer with global warming, oil shortages, etc.
Oh, crap!! I just realized this entire post probably counts as a complaint (see a Complaint Free World below). I’ll stop here and move my bracelet to the other wrist. And I was going on 3 days, too. Rats!!