ignorance is not an excuse

i get a little mad sometimes, when i see children make huge mistakes and people try to defend them by saying that "they didn't know". maybe because i feel that ignorance should not be used as an excuse all the time; otherwise, they would never learn to take responsibility for their actions.

today, my ignorance made somebody very angry. because i didn't realise that my controller was wired to the wii, i got excited, pulled the wire and made my brother's wii drop to the floor. and the worst part was - one of the covers broke, to my horror.

while he didn't lose his temper as much as i thought he would (thankfully!), i was aware that my ignorance was not an excuse to cover up my mistake. he had every right to be angry, and i have every reason to shoulder the responsibility.

but my point is, if i didn't receive some form of negative reinforcements as a consequence to my actions, i probably wouldn't had learned my lesson (to be more careful) as much as i did.