Let’s talk about the most abused, misunderstood, and misrepresented word in modern history: Mistake. For generations – and some more than others – people have exploited this innocent term like it’s a free pass from consequences. They’ve tucked it into their back pocket like a “Get Out of Accountability” card, ready to play it the moment life pushes back.

But here’s the truth: once you’ve been warned, it’s  not a mistake. It’s a choice. And the you make a choice knowing the risk – or having seen someone else fall because of it – you don’t get to label it a “mistake” just because it finally caught up to you.

Let’s be clear: Mistake was never meant to carry the weight of willful ignorance or arrogant decisions. Mistake was meant for the unforeseen. The genuinely unintentional. Not the things you were told would happen if you kept doing that thing.

So no more calling it a mistake when:

• You drink and drive after years of ads, stories, and wreckage.
• You have an “accidental” pregnancy, when birth control is literally everywhere.
• You abuse a child, pet, partner, or anyone – after knowing its trauma, not discipline.
• You miss a deadline you ignored for weeks.
• You lie about paternity to protect an image.
• You “accidentally” touched someone inappropriately and knew better.
• You steal from employees’ retirement funds, ruin their future, then say, “It wasn’t supposed to go that far.”
• You call the cops on a Black man in the park because your discomfort suddenly became an emergency.
• You exploit someone else’s culture, work, or invention and act surprised by the backlash.
• You claim sexual assault when it was consensual – but the gifts and the perks stopped.
• You let your bias dictate patient care, and someone died.
• You disrespect a grown man by calling him “boy” and think it’s just “how you talk.” ESPN, and too many others…
• You eat fast food every day for years, then blame “genetics” for your health.
• You sleep with a married person, get caught, and claim you “didn’t know.”

Nah, partna. That ain’t a mistake. Those are decisions.

And here’s where the word Mistake gets abused most violently and frequently: white terrorism.

A young white person walks into a school or church or a grocery store with a rifle and kills dozens. And what do we hear?

“He was a troubled youth.”

“He had a hard upbringing.”

“He was just a kid,” even if he’s in his 30s.

“He made a tragic mistake.”

No. He or she made a horrific choice.

He or she planned it. He wrote the manifesto. He loaded the gun. He aimed. He pulled the trigger over and over again.

Still, media headlines find the baby-faced photo. They talk about his love for sports or music. He or she is humanized. The victims are footnotes.

Meanwhile, Black and Brown youth are called thugs, criminals, and gang members – even when they’re the victims dead on the ground.

Or take those white teens caught bullying homeless people, harassing disabled kids, vandalizing communities, and taunting people of color. Over and over, it’s brushed off as:

“Kids being kids.”

“They didn’t know better.”

“It was just an innocent mistake.”

But let a Black or brown teen steal a bag of chips or speak too loudly in public? That’s “threatening behavior.” That’s a “pattern of aggression.”

Mistake is not colorblind – but accountability better be.

The problem? Society has co-signed this mess. For centuries, people have built a culture around dodging accountability with that one word. “I made a mistake,” they say – when what they mean is, “I got caught.” And somehow, that softens the blow. It makes them the victim.

But they’re not. The true victim is Mistake – a word that was meant to shield the innocent, not excuse the guilty.

It’s time we free Mistake from this twisted role. No more carrying the burden of arrogance, entitlement, or willful wrongdoing. Let it go back to covering slip-ups, not sins.

Next time someone tries to dodge responsibility with “I made a mistake,” ask one thing: “Did you know better?”

If the answer is yes?

Then it wasn’t a mistake.

It was a decision.

Own it.

When was the last time you heard this abused?

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