2002级英语教育2班　林浈

There is a motto hanging on the wall of my chamber: ‘A life is like a field of newly fallen snow. Where I choose to walk, the steps will show’, which was given by my father. Every time I stand in front of it, I can’t help recalling what happened three years ago.

At that time I was an active cell in PuTian Middle School .As a member of the Students’ Union I often helped them to do some correspondence .One day before the final exams, the Union suddenly wanted some people to write some articles for them. But every one was so busily engaged in preparing for the exams that hardly could anyone be willing to waste a minute to do such a job.  But when the president asked me to do it as a rookie, I, in order to give him a good impression, promised without hesitation.

The following days, I was buried in stakes of books, totally immersed in hills of papers until the day the president asked me for the article---which was still castle in the air.
I was very surprised "So soon? I haven’t put down a word.”
“I have given you two weeks, and how can you say so quickly! ”
“But, please ¬¬¬----’’
“But we badly need it .All right I will give you another day and I hope I can see it on my table tomorrow morning”

Undoubtedly, It is impossible for me to finish it in so short a day; and the article was so clumsy that the next day, the president told me I was fired by the Union.

Weekends came and I went back disappointed .my father noticed the dark feeling on my face and asked me why. I told him what had occurred to me.

“How can they do such things on me?” I complained angrily. Patting on my shoulder to console me, he asked “why you didn’t write it immediately after you promised it.

“Because I was so busy at that time and what’s more---”I was trying to find more reasons
“Lin, you have to remember that every time you are in trouble don’t rescue yourself with excuses. Excuse is the hotbed of laziness and timidity. Everyone who wants to be successful has to be brave enough to face his own fault.”

“Well---I didn’t make the business seriously. In fact---I could do better--”I cast my eyes on my feet.

That night my father wrote that motto and had it hanged in my chamber .For the past three years every time I came back from school I would stand before it to think over what I have done in the past days: Had I weaved excuses for myself? Had I blamed my own fault on others?

And I thought that all the times I’d been late and blamed traffic rather than saying “I should have left earlier.” In addition, I realized I’ve been blaming anyone else, anything else but myself and what’s more, I wasn’t alone. I’ve never seen anyone arriving late without explaining that the delay was someone else’s fault.

 I began to notice how pervasive blame shifting was that it had woven firmly into the fabric of our society:(as Tyler described in his essay) Drunks aren’t just drunks, they’re suffering from alcoholism; criminals are not just creeps; they are the sacrifices of society; kids who are victims of dysfunctional families are underdogs who were programmed to fail.

Nowadays, hardly ever can someone let go of it and go over to face their own fault; hardly ever can someone be brave enough to declare as German prime minister Kaul ever said “The buck stops here?” But we have to remember “‘A life is like a field of newly fallen snow where I choose to walk, the steps will show.”

The other day, my book was stolen in the classroom when I left for answering a telephone. When I met Sue, I said, “I did such a stupid thing that---”instead of complaining ”the repulsive thief did..."

Now it is time for us to stop rescuing ourselves by weaving so many excuses. It is time we blame shifts resolve to begin with more sentences with “I did the stupidest thing—”. Only when we do like this can we really start to learn from our mistakes. And we would really grow up.   

（庄陶教授　批阅）