Excuses, Excuses

    Ex-cuse: (verb). An attempt to lessen blame attaching (to a fault or offense); seek to defend or justify.  
    Ac-count-a-bil-i-ty: (noun). A fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.

    In the wake of recent disturbances to the peace and well being of our way of life ( police brutality, mass shooting, prejudice and racist tirades, abuse of disabled, and urban violence) I have noticed a new disturbing trend, the lack of accountability and the list of excuses used to defend the before mentioned acts. No sooner than the news of something terrible happening news and social media outlets are lined with articles, short stories, memes, gifs, tweets, and posts about why a person did what they did, who is to blame (other than the person who actually committed the act), or my favorite, the comparison of the recent event to a past similar event and how the past event was worse or better, how the person who committed the past event got more or less punishment and how unfair it is to a certain group of people who hold certain beliefs to be true.
    Let me start by first making something very clear, I have little tolerance for excuses of bad decisions, especially the one that end up in loss of life or harm to someone. I have infinite patience for those who hold themselves responsible for the poor decision that results in loss of life of bodily harm. How every you feel about either is an individual preference and you have every right to that without question. My goal now is to try and provide some clarity to my thinking on the subject.
    The main reason why I have little tolerance for excuses is in the definition, the "seek to defend or justify" part. Before I get into that I guess I should start with what sparked this hold train of thought. There is a case right now going on in national media and without getting into to much detail, four young African American teens basically kid nap and tortured a  Caucasian Teen with some learning disabilities. They hold him over night, torture him in various ways, humiliate him while being racist, and had the smarts to post all of this on a Facebook video. Now what really burns my biscuits is that people have been making excuses for their behaviors by posting a pic of a young Caucasian teen who did the same thing to someone else (unsure at this time the age, race, and abilities of his victim) and stating that Caucasian teen charges were much lighter than the African American teens and this is unfair or not equal justice. I will agree that it is not equal justice, but the unfair part you can miss me with that. The charges that the A.A. teens received is exactly what they should get, if not harsher. The Caucasian teen should have received the same, this is unequal justice, but to excuse their behaviors because someone else had a lighter sentence is ridiculous to say the least. You can't minimize or deflect the responsibility of something so malice and cruel or ease the punishment because someone else got off easy. The first example that comes to mind is a couple of teenagers go drinking and get into a bar fight, they beat a guy, send him to the hospital, and end up going to jail. One teens has a high powered attorney and he manages to get only probation, a fine, and community service hours. the other kid gets a public defender and gets 1 year jail time plus 5 years parole. The one who got no jail time was Caucasian the one who did the time was Mexican. Unfair as it may seem where is there room for the excuse for their actions. You can argue the sentence and punishment but they both did the act.
    Some of our frustrations is misplaced. I understand the outrage when seeing someone get off easier than they should simply because of their entitlement and that entitlement is very often used as an excuse to justify their decisions to act criminally, and far to often does that excuse minimize their act. It still doesn't make it right and we should neither condone these justifications or (more importantly) try to use these excuses to justify the behaviors of our own peers and family when they act out in such similar and terrible manner. Cops shoots a person; "well he should of complied"; Teens torture a disabled kid; "why did his parents let him go unattended in the first place", man shoots up airport; "he was a terrorist", 82 people shot over a holiday weekend; "the community is oppressed", caught selling heroin; "they lack resources in our community", gang violence; "no funding for sports and recreation". Excuses, excuses, excuses.
    So what about accountability? How do we look these people in the eye and be empathetic to the causes to which lead them to their poor actions and still hold them responsible for the damage they have done? In my opinion it begins with acceptance. Let's accept the fact that something wrong has occurred, and accept that everything is not always simple to solve or punish. Each act is separate from the next and that each act should be treated as such. Being responsible as a society lies deeply in making sure that the person involved in the harm is held responsible. Yea, I know, if it was so easy the world would be perfect right, but the devil is in the details. To often do we turn a blind eye to intolerable acts simply because we share the same race, religion, title, or beliefs. No one likes a violent or aggressive cop but the ones who provide excuses for them usually is, knows, or has some close affiliation with cops, same with terrorist, racist, gangs, politics. etc.. We will continually provide excuses for our brothers and sister for the same acts that we would scream to the heavens how foul they are if someone of a different set of beliefs had committed them. This is our folly, our denial, our delusion, our excuse for continually not allowing someone to be accountable. I hope that if ever given the opportunity that you hold me to the highest form of accountability in the same way that I hope I can do the same for you. Maybe by simply being accountable for holding others accountable and not having an excuse for providing an excuse is all we need.