Excuses, excuses
Do you remember the good old days when an “excuse slip” was enough to solve all your problems? I have fond memories of those days. Back when I was in elementary, I never had to worry about missing a day in class or failing to submit a report or failing to do my homework on time — just as long as I had an excuse slip from my mom or dad.
That was the sure-fire insulator, the impenetrable defense shield. My teacher would come up to me and scowl, “Why were you absent yesterday? Weren’t you supposed to give a report?” And with a cocky smile, I’d take out my excuse slip and calmly hand it to her and say, “But ma’am, I have an excuse slip. I was sick of you, ah, este, I was down with the flu.” To which the teacher would normally reply, “Oh OK. Are you feeling better now? Drink your medicine, OK?” Problem solved. Ahh, those were the days, weren’t they?
As you get older though, life gets a little more complicated. In high school, you can still get away with an excuse slip, but the teacher would not be as understanding. When the teacher says, “Where’s your report? You should have submitted it yesterday,” and you’d reply, “But ma’am, I have an excuse slip. I have a bum teacher, ah, este, I had a bum stomach pala.” The teacher would then just stare at you and say with a suspicious tone, “Hmm, okay I’ll let you get away this time. But submit it first thing tomorrow. I want it on my desk at
By the time you get to college, however, the whole practice of giving an excuse slip is totally discarded. In college, they give you “cuts.” Basically, how it works is that for every subject, you are allotted a certain number of cuts or allowable absences, depending on the number of units the subject is worth. So if a subject grants you six cuts per semester, it means you can be legally and validly absent from class six times, regardless of the reason, even if you were just hanging out at Timezone or Starbucks.
It’s a long process — around 18 years in the making. Our educational system and our natural maturation are structured in such a way that we become less dependent on excuse slips — and excuses in general — as we get older. What this whole process is telling us is that excuses are for the immature and incompetent.
I know that’s a little bit harsh. But that’s how the real world works. Excuses just don’t cut it. Let’s start with the world of sports. Recently, Tiger Woods, the undisputed No.1 golfer in the world, got beaten by a relatively unknown player named Trevor Immelman at the 2008 Masters. Tiger placed second in the event, but for most people that’s not enough. They always expect Tiger to win. Everyone was going, “How could Tiger lose to this Trevor guy?”
A few days after the Masters, news broke that Tiger went to the hospital to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery. Apparently, he had been having pain on his knee for months, which was kinda weird because Tiger had been winning most of the tournaments in the PGA Tour for the past couple of months. When he lost to Immelman, he could have very well said, “I lost because I have a problem with my knee, which requires surgery.” But he didn’t. Because the world’s No. 1 golfer doesn’t believe in excuses, he just tries to be the best golfer he can be. And if he loses, it’s not because he has a bad knee. He’ll simply say, “I didn’t play well today — I must improve tomorrow.”
Roger Federer, the world’s No. 1 tennis player, recently lost at the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Later on, news leaked out that Federer was suffering from glandular fever. While he did say that that could have contributed to his loss, he just said that he “could have played better.” Despite his condition, he continues to play tennis because, he said, “I have lots of goals for this year.” Fact is, Federer is rich enough to feed five generations of Federers; he doesn’t have to work as hard he does and still be considered a legend. He could have justified his lost, but he didn’t. He doesn’t believe in excuses either.
Of course, one can argue, “Well, not everyone is made like Tiger or Federer. We’re all made differently.” True. But Tiger and Federer are living proof that it is humanly possible. Indeed, if you concentrate on doing what you do best — and not be too concerned about making excuses if you don’t make it — you can achieve a lot.
The corporate world is not as harsh as the extremely demanding sports world. In the corporate world, you can avail of your sick or vacation leave. You get even while you are in Boracay snorkeling. When things screw up, you are sometimes given a chance to make a report, to explain why something didn’t work out right. You can cook up hundreds of excuses — earthquakes, typhoons, labor unrest, recession, rice shortage, uncooperative staff, incompetent middle managers, Ruffa’s separation from Ylmaz — you can put all of this in your report. But in the end, the bottom line doesn’t accept excuses. No matter what excuses you come up with — if you’re bottom line is negative, it will remain negative no matter who or what you blame it on. Your excuses can’t save you, you’ll still lose your job even if your excuses are deemed “valid.”
In a way, the reason our beloved country can’t get over the hump is that we Pinoys have a tendency to pin the blame on everything under the sun for our country’s miseries. We complain about the traffic — and we blame it on government officials. We complain about poverty — and we blame it on the bad educational system. We complain about the dirty toilets — and we blame it on our innate lack of respect for others. We complain about corruption — and we blame it on Malacañang.
We all have these excuses on why our country is not taking off. And yet I have yet to meet a Pinoy who will candidly say, “The Philippines is not great because of me. I have not done my part.” Maybe there has been a Pinoy out there who has said it but unfortunately I haven’t met him. So I’ll start with me. I would like to apologize to all of you — my countrymen — for not doing enough to promote our country’s welfare. I have no excuses. But I promise not to bash the country anymore. And I promise that from now on, I will do one positive thing about the country (like pick up a piece of litter from the street, smile at strangers, promote Pinoy achievers, etc.) every single day.
I truly believe our country can be great. But first we have to get rid of all our excuses.
So let’s do it. No excuses, OK?
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Thanks for your letters, folks! You may e-mail me at rodhnepo@yahoo.com.
