My Bad

And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 1 Chronicles 21:8

For some reason, I can tell you exactly when and where I first heard the phrase, “My bad”. I was 20 years old, working in the Black Hills of South Dakota, when I met a coworker who used it regularly. Though I’ve never really liked the phrase, I’ve always been struck by how succinct an idea fits into two little words. My Bad – First, It clearly acknowledges that something negative has occurred and second, that I am accepting responsibility for it.

This is an important concept for us to be able to grasp and to be able to communicate. Everyone makes mistakes occasionally and everyone should be able to own up to those mistakes. But we’ve all known the frustration of interacting with those who cannot accept responsibility for their failures. Blaming everything and everyone else, some people simply can’t bring themselves to acknowledge their own missteps.

My Bad. King David, in today’s passage, appropriately expressed this sentiment to God. In the story, David commanded that his army be counted, which was known to be an act of pride and self-reliance. Speaking through a prophet, God expressed his displeasure to David, who owned his mistake – I have sinned. David could have made excuses or blamed others, but he took responsibility for his iniquity and he threw himself on God’s mercy.

As flawed people, admitting failure is a life skill we will all need at some point. We all make mistakes and it does us no good to refuse to admit that. For a problem to be fixed, the root cause must be acknowledged. If we are at fault and refuse to accept it, then the problem will continue. Admitting fault doesn’t automatically fix a problem but our failures cannot begin to be corrected until we admit them.

My Bad. I may not like the phrase, but still, I must be able to use it.