If I want someone to be my sponsor, it means I would like them to provide me with instructions, which I then follow. If I do not follow those instructions, then any wish for that person to be my sponsor is entirely notional.
In a sense, it does not matter whether I resist the instructions in principle or accept them in principle but then am unwilling or unable to follow them. The net result is the same: the instructions are not being followed.
This is true even where the actions are not taken for a series of apparently unrelated, one-off, or ostensibly legitimate reasons: work, overtime, deadlines, 'a special project', financial constraints, family commitments, hot weather, cold weather, wet weather, windy weather, travelling distance, crowded trains, late buses, transportation disruptions, waves of emotion, indifference, antipathy, fear, anxiety, tiredness, feeling overwhelmed, feeling constrained, feeling controlled, wanting flexibility, wanting only to take 'baby steps', not being the sort of person who does a plan for the day, not being good at writing, 'food poisoning', 'forgetting', 'not having put it in my diary', being subject to other people's timetable constraints, other people's lateness, other people 'not getting back to me', 'not understanding the instruction' (but then not asking), forgetting to write it down, a doctor's appointment, a psychiatrist's appointment, a psychotherapist's appointment, a yoga class, a football match, a rugby match, a partner's complaint, having to juggle other appointments, leaving my coat at home, being tired, wanting to do something else, lack of baby-sitter, general disorganisation, illness striking on the day in question then mysteriously vanishing without affecting anything else in my schedule, visitors to town, social opportunities, entertainment opportunities, or a panic attack. Sometimes these reasons are deliberately contrived; in other cases they are unconscious rationalisations; and we will all occasionally be subject to forces beyond our control; but if there's a pattern, there's a pattern, and the parsnips are not being buttered, and the medicine is not being taken. The reason for the pattern is actually immaterial, and the fact that each point is potentially arguable must not distract from the bigger picture:
Someone who owns a toothbrush but does not brush his teeth is no better a position than someone who does not own a toothbrush. Why the teeth are not being brushed on any particular day, and even if the reasons vary every single day, the teeth don't care. All they know is that they're not being brushed. There are no points for intention, only for action.
In a sense, it does not matter whether I resist the instructions in principle or accept them in principle but then am unwilling or unable to follow them. The net result is the same: the instructions are not being followed.
This is true even where the actions are not taken for a series of apparently unrelated, one-off, or ostensibly legitimate reasons: work, overtime, deadlines, 'a special project', financial constraints, family commitments, hot weather, cold weather, wet weather, windy weather, travelling distance, crowded trains, late buses, transportation disruptions, waves of emotion, indifference, antipathy, fear, anxiety, tiredness, feeling overwhelmed, feeling constrained, feeling controlled, wanting flexibility, wanting only to take 'baby steps', not being the sort of person who does a plan for the day, not being good at writing, 'food poisoning', 'forgetting', 'not having put it in my diary', being subject to other people's timetable constraints, other people's lateness, other people 'not getting back to me', 'not understanding the instruction' (but then not asking), forgetting to write it down, a doctor's appointment, a psychiatrist's appointment, a psychotherapist's appointment, a yoga class, a football match, a rugby match, a partner's complaint, having to juggle other appointments, leaving my coat at home, being tired, wanting to do something else, lack of baby-sitter, general disorganisation, illness striking on the day in question then mysteriously vanishing without affecting anything else in my schedule, visitors to town, social opportunities, entertainment opportunities, or a panic attack. Sometimes these reasons are deliberately contrived; in other cases they are unconscious rationalisations; and we will all occasionally be subject to forces beyond our control; but if there's a pattern, there's a pattern, and the parsnips are not being buttered, and the medicine is not being taken. The reason for the pattern is actually immaterial, and the fact that each point is potentially arguable must not distract from the bigger picture:
Someone who owns a toothbrush but does not brush his teeth is no better a position than someone who does not own a toothbrush. Why the teeth are not being brushed on any particular day, and even if the reasons vary every single day, the teeth don't care. All they know is that they're not being brushed. There are no points for intention, only for action.