"I've given up smoking,
Cholesterol and salt
So if anything happens,
It's not my fault."
- Anonymous

Making excuses are similar to finding fault, which is in turn related to finding blame.

We live in a generation in which people try to find fault with others. As the level of politics, understanding, and knowledge is growing weaker and weaker. Other negative elements, including insolence or chutzpah, are increasing, in order to replace them.

The excessive fault-finding exhibited by our generation is a sign of its weakness. Nobody accepts blame for anything wrong. Things always seem to be blamed on others, and when something is perceived to be somebody else’s fault then the perpetrator feels that he is absolved of all obligation or blame. He passes the buck.

Harry S Truman used to have a little block on his desk which said “The buck stops here.” In this way, he claimed to accept the ultimate blame for things that go wrong.

We are not likely to find thia quality any more. Now we find fault with society, the school, the home, or with anybody but the individual. As a result, nobody has to try to do anything well, or to be good. If you take a person to court that proves that you are not to blame.

Extend this problem to a national or a global scale, and it becomes more difficult. If nobody is responsible for anything, then there is no reason for anybody to do things in the proper way, or to be good. People feel that they can act in any way they want, and then they will find a way to pass on the blame for the results of their actions to others. In this way, they are absolved of any guilt.

This leads to a tremendous lowering of standards and of the effort that people put in to their work. Corporations assure the necessary quality of work can by using quality assurance teams. Somebody stands above the worker to assure that the work is produced in the best way.

However, interpersonal relationships have no standards, and there is no stipulation of a correct way to act. Our generation of blame has lowered the quality of interpersonal relationships. Combine that fact with the depersonalization of the mass media and of the Internet, which keeps people within their own homes and with less contact with others in the world. As a result, mankind is becoming less reliant on others. Our global village and wonderfully advanced communications systems are taking a step back.

On the one hand, you can communicate with anybody in the world instantly using the telephone, fax, or email. On the other hand you have no reason to actually contact with anybody in person, because people have a diminished need need for interpersonal relationships. Nobody wants to contact a person who will ultimately blame them.

This may be one of the things that has to be changed in the future, so that we can again have a more solid personal contact among people. We are missing out on a great deal by limiting our personal contact.