Wasn't me....

Today, I was taking a walk and stopped at a local park to sit awhile on a bench. There was a couple with their young chocolate labrador and they were giving him some exercise by throwing a ball which he energetically and quite impressively retrieved and returned.

The gentlemen threw the ball on the far end of the grassy stretch and the ball bounced down the hill, into the street, and into the yard across the lane. Of course, the dog focused upon and followed the bouncing ball....all the way...down the hill....and across the street....

Fortunately, the driver of the car approaching the park was attentive and stopped while the well-trained, ball-focused, and street-unaware lab pup retrieved the ball, ran back across the street, through the field, and dropped the ball at the man's feet.

Whew....

However, what was fascinating was the comment of the man, the tosser of the ball, who exclaimed, "That stupid ball! Did you see how it bounced?!!?"

Seriously??? He was blaming the ball??!!??!?

My father was a Marine and a steelworker. We were raised to take responsibility. If you screwed up, you owned up to it; you fessed up, you said, "That was my fault."

Once, I had driven the family car to take a group of friends to the movies. While dropping one friend off at her home, I backed the car into a mailbox putting a noticeable dent in the rear of the car. It was dark when I got home so I parked the car, slid into the house, and went to bed.
The next morning, I awoke to my father and brother in the driveway and Dad saying, "Look at this! Someone must have hit the car last night! They probably used our driveway to turn-around and hit the car!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing!! Was it possible that I may actually get away with it??!!?? Brilliant! Go with the "Can you believe someone would hit the car and just drive off" line....it was perfect!

Then, I heard my Dad say, "Wait a minute; Sally had the car out last night..."

Game over.

I lead-footed it downstairs and confessed.
I got yelled at.

It is always better to take responsibility and to admit when you blow it.

It's a character thing and other people respect you. Then again, a ball can have a mind of it's own and there are rude drivers who hit your car in the middle of the night.....hmmmmmm.....

sj;