― Louise Erdrich, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Exculpate
verb
to exculpate someone is to prove that they are not guilty of doing something wrong.
There’s no need to say “my bad” if you’re unfamiliar with exculpate; while the word is far from rare, it is most often encountered in formal writing in reference to the clearing of someone of alleged fault or guilt, as in “they were exculpated of any wrongdoing.” You may be more familiar with a pair of terms that, like exculpate, come from the Latin noun culpa, meaning “blame” or “guilt.” One is the adjective culpable, used to describe someone deserving of condemnation or blame. The other is the Latin phrase mea culpa, which translates directly as “through my fault” and refers to an acknowledgement of personal fault or error that is more formal than, well, “my bad.”
Merriam Webster Dictonary
I’ve been scared many times. Like when I see a spider. Okay, I’m not as bad as I used to be about spiders as long as they stay out of my house. They have their place and I have mine. Still, the thought of running into a spider’s web makes me shiver. Or clinking up the first hill on a roller-coaster. Taking a test for which I hadn’t studied. Going someplace new. Going somewhere on my own. (I am most over the last three now.)
The one time I felt terrified, however, was as a teenager. Back then (when the dinosaurs roamed), I could ride my bike up and down the road (we lived on a narrow back road) for hours without my parents worrying. It was dusk. I was riding my bike away from the house, wanting to take one more rush down the opposite hill before I went home. As I came to a curve, I stopped, overcome with a feeling of dread. From inside the trees by the side of the road, I could feel the purest form of evil I had ever imagined, more than I had ever imagined.
Something, or someone, was watching me with evil intent.
I spun my bike around and rode home as fast as I could, running into the house. safe only once the door was closed behind me.
It was a long time before I was able to go outside at dusk.
“One becomes holy by doing ordinary things well, and by being constantly faithful in small things.”
ST. Bonaventure
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