Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It is easy to use my past as a reason for my behavior. It’s just an excuse. Put it and all other excuses behind and be here and now and better.

“You have to understand” (when we hear those words, run and hide quickly)

• I was in the Army
• I grew up in New England
• I never played baseball as a kid
• I always wrote a lot
• I didn’t have a library in my town
• I was raised in a big family
• I was an only child
• I was part of an Irish/Italian/Cajun/Latin/Whatever community

I could keep this list going for a while. I have a past that brought me to this place here and now. I act the way I do because of my past. You just have to understand that and not blame what I do on me. My problems were caused by something, someone, somewhere.

Wrong. I am responsible for what I do here and now. Excusing myself because of something somewhere else at some other time is convenient. Like all excuses, it is just an excuse. Move on. Be here and now.

Let’s do better.