Excuses, Excuses

The first principle of success, as set forth by Jack Canfield and other pioneers of the motivational-living crowd, is to take full, 100% responsibility for everything that happens to you in life. From the friends you have to the money in your wallet. Everything happens as a result of decisions you have made in your life up to this point.

That is why it is so important to take TODAY by the horns and realize that what happens NOW will shape your TOMORROWS for years to come. And your life today is what you have made of it in years past.

But how can some people get to this moment of clarity when they will make excuses for the most heinous of actions?

Just when you think you have heard the "best" of the worst excuses, there's always another one to shock and dismay.

A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty last week to assaulting his girlfriend's 2-year-old boy. He admits kicking him out of the way and then squeezing his face. Can you IMAGINE this?

While your mind is still trying to process the horrors of this act, let's take a look at the EXCUSE this beast came up with.

He's not a morning person.

Don't laugh. That's what he told the judge. He's not a morning person.

The child had bleeding near the brain, and his perpetrator can only say he is not a morning person?

The judge ordered psychological evaluations for Juan Arreola. He could possibly get more than 20 years in prison for what he did.

It doesn't look like Juan is ready to get past that first principle of success, taking 100% responsibility for our lives.

If justice prevails, Juan Arreola will be a much older man before he ever gets the chance to lurk in society again.

That would be the best and boldest cup of reality for a non-morning person to gulp.