EXOD991 On occasion, even highly immoral people try to rationalize errant behavior. … Aaron's explanation recalls the words of the American writer Sidney Harris: "We have not passed the subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice; that is, until we have stopped saying, 'It got lost,'" and say, 'I lost it.'" Indeed, if you reread Aaron's explanation of how the Golden Calf came into being, his words do, in fact, sound childlike.