To Prompt or Not to Prompt

I have never liked prompting. Ihave been in very few shows that have used such a device. The only time I welcomed a prompt was when it was used as a comical occurance throughout the show - Prompt walks on stage and bashes actor who can't get his lines right, etc.
I have recently be distracted by many things occuring in my life and recently dropped a line on stage. Fair enough, my cue line was missed or not given, but that really is not excuse. I should have been paying enough attention to the dialogue to realise what had happened. As it was, there was an uncomfortable pause before a whispered voice jolted my memory and feed me my line.
My first reaction was to quickly pick-up where'd I had left off, but I was resentful that I had needed prompt, then I mental-bashed myself for being so distracted.
It was later, after the show that I realised that I had become lazy by the very fact that there was a prompt there. I have missed cues before in other plays but have always been able to improvise a quick come-back and get myself back on track. In these shows, we had not prompt and we knew we had to rely on ourselves.
Can it be that the knowledge that a prompt is present (stage left) will encourage laziness in the performers?
Jeff "Missed" Watkins