Excuses: Guarded Lies

"An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie. For an excuse is a lie guarded." -Pope Benedict XVI

I find this line quoted from Pope Benedict XVI to be very interesting yet very true at the same time. I often find myself formulating excuses for the wrongs that I do, but who ever said that excuses were any better than lies. Once I truly thought about it, I came to an agreement with the former Pope. When someone lies, they know that they did something wrong and have to tell a fib in order to cover it up and avoid the truth. Whereas, when one tells an excuse, it is something that they convince themselves to be true so that they do not have to consider what they did to be wrong. These excuses guard the fact that what they did was wrong. And because they think that what they did was wrong was actually not wrong at all, they are lying to themselves. The sad thing is that they are usually unaware of these lies. For if they were aware, it would no longer be referred to as an excuse.