Excuses: We all have them; we̢۪ve all given them. Some of us are more clever, or more creative than others when formulating them, but we all never fail to pop one right out when the need calls for it.

I’ve always stepped up to the plate when it comes to the big issues, but when handling the minute dealings of life – being late, returning a call or just plain forgetting to do something – I’ll confess, I’m a seasoned excuser.

For instance, one of my favorite excuses for being late to class is that I live out of town, I’m a bad driver and it REALLY scares me to drive in the fog. Although I am a horrible driver – currently cruising in a ’99 brown Camry with a missing hubcap and a cracked bumper (for your safety speed past me if you see me on the road) – I have, in fact, always lived fairly close to campus; actually, I’m about a 7-minute leisurely walk to school, so you’d think I’d always be on time, right?

Well, the truth is, and yes, here goes my excuse for making an excuse: the “fogâ€Â line or any sort of “I had a flat-tire,â€Â or “dog attacked me on the streetâ€Â variation of an excuse just sounds so much better than me telling a professor, whom I usually fully respect, that I went to a random shindig in the Tower last night, got completely plastered and still felt extremely disoriented when I woke up.

I know that making excuses, especially when a bit of lying is involved, is not religiously, ethically or, to a certain degree, socially acceptable, but how can I not use my innocent looking face to my advantage, maybe keep my grade points and perhaps even score some future excusable tardiness? If like me, you̢۪re not a morning person, you know how ridiculously harsh an 8 a.m. class can be.

Yet a simple act by a great man has actually changed my excuse-making perspective. U.S. Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who along with his crew, safely splash-landed a plane with 150 passengers in the Hudson River, gave the Madden Library a call telling them that a book he checked out through an interlibrary loan, had gone down with the plane.

I̢۪m not quite sure what̢۪s more incredible, the fact that he kept so many people safe or how he remembered to quickly call, out of all places, the library on the other side of the country. My more than $100 in late fees can attest to the fact that I have trouble returning books on time even when walking right by the library on a daily basis.

As for my excuse-making self, I’d be willing to bet big bucks that the line “so your book, yeah, it’s missing because I just saved 150 peopleâ€Â would work wonders with the library staff. But as my new and improved, what-would-Sullenberger-do self, I’m beginning to see the need for a change.

No more will I excuse my tardiness by blaming my clumsiness and saying that I had to dash back home because I fell in the mud, although it has happened before, or say my puppy ( imaginary, of course) escaped and could not be found.

I promise to make an honest effort to officially retire from the art of excuse making, and, most importantly, Library Dean McDonald, I̢۪ll try to return your books on time. If not, I̢۪ll at least do like Sullenberger, and give you a call.