SODDIT. i picked up this phrase while i was still deeply involved with my Criminal Law-Revised Penal Code mastery. this interesting phrase was also mentioned in John Lescroart’s The Mercy Rule. SODDIT. Some Other Dude Did It. pointing fingers.
now i’m wondering why it is so hard for people to admit their mistakes. don’t get me wrong. i have a hard time owning up to my errors too — and these mistakes range from ordinary and embarrassing bloopers (wtf?!? i said gaP heaven, not gaF heaven!!) to more ‘complex’ and more embarrassing stupidities (i didn’t notice that the light for ‘hot’ wasn’t turned on so i just poured it in your cup.. here, have some warm coffee..) to disastrous and humiliating he-will-never-forgive-me-for-this, i’m-sooo-done-for!, i’m-throwing-in-the-towel types of blunders (i’m bailing out on this because i will never ever admit that i actually rummaged through your files and violated your privacy. basta, i just have proof!).
notice that there are two different ideas presented here. owning up and pointing fingers. these two do not necessarily co-exist. but when they do, the person who admits that he has faults but points his finger at someone else whining "but he’s the one to blame" looks like a first-rate ass.
moving further, let me concretize this concept. let’s suppose that i have been careless enough to leave my office computer AVR overloaded over the weekend, which in turn was the cause of the fire that burned down the whole of orient square (yeyy, no work for the next two years?). and then let’s suppose that i admitted that it was i who committed this major faux pas but pointed my finger at the manufacturer of the AVR, contending that they did not make their products durable enough to take an electrical overload for a whole weekend. am i clueless enough to suppose that my line of reasoning would be acceptable to anyone? but then again, i’m taking this to an extreme.
all i’m saying is that admission of a blunder is admirable. it shows maturity, spunk, acceptance of one’s own flaws and imperfections. it reflects character. it implies learning. and it earns my respect.
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