Irresponsible, immoral, blameworthy, excuse.
I would not say you were irresponsible if it were an excusable mistake........
If it's my turn to pick up the carpool pass and I fail to do that, I've acted irresponsibly. The fact that a meeting went ballistic, causing me to temporarily forget about the pass, and ran long, causing me to run too late to pick it up, is an explanation but not an excuse. I take the blame for my failure. Had my mother died, or whatever excuse you came up with for me, is IMO not an excuse. It's understandable, just like the meeting explanation is understandable. Neither is an excuse. There is no excuse. I'm still to blame because I didn't pick up the pass or make alternate arrangements. In neither case would I expect to get any grief about my irresponsibility. My car pool would understand. And I would understand that there was no underlying character flaw at work that required my attention.
Had I not picked up the pass because I chose to take a long lunch instead, that would have been irresponsible, blameworthy, and without excuse, as well. It would also have been negligent, disrespectful, and indicative of a nasty character flaw. I wouldn't want to carpool with someone like that.
None of the above is immoral by my understanding of the word.
Karen |
