The following is a collection of actual excuses for missing school that were turned in by students and reported in "Seventeen magazine:"
- My son is under a doctor's care and could not take P.E. yesterday. Please execute him.
- Please excuse Cynthia for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.
- Please excuse Tom for being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33.
- Please excuse Danny for being. It was his father's fault.
- June could not come to school yesterday because she was bothered by very close veins.
- Richard had an acre in his side.
- Please excuse Timothy for being absent last week. He could not talk because of Larry and Gitus.
- Please excuse Nancy for staying home. The doctor said that her lungs are too full to be outside.
- Please excuse Margaret from Jim yesterday because she is administrating.
- Please excuse Robert for being absent. He had a cold and could not breed well.
People have all sorts of excuses for the things they do. Some are legitimate, some are not. A teenage boy in Washington was recently acquitted of murder charges on the grounds that he was "morally handicapped." It wasn't his fault, said the judge, that he shot and killed a fellow student. He had an excuse.
Life, perhaps unfortunately in some minds, doesn't work that way. Sooner or later we all have to take responsibility for who we are and what we do. We can't keep blaming our behavior on someone or something else.
We will be held accountable for our actions. When we stand before our Creator, we won't be able to hand Him an excuse from our mothers or from anyone else and expect to be released from guilt. That's why He sent His Son. He is our excuse. He is the note that gets us off the hook. When we believe in Him and follow Him, we are released from our guilt. He stands with us at the judgment seat and says, "Please excuse this person, he/she belongs to Me." And that's okay with God.
Wayne Rice
