THE LACK OF COMMON SENSE IN ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY

We have evolved to a society where no one wants to accept responsibility for anything. Management blames employees, conditions, unfair competition, or the government but never themselves for the failure of a company.  Excuses like, “it was the economy, we lost our funding, the market changed, the union, etc.” Seldom, if EVER, will you hear anyone from management say, “we made some bad decisions and it basically was our fault”. Certainly it was not the fact that management raped a company’s assets, had creative accountants help them inflate earnings, hide liabilities and thereby fraudulently inflate stock prices so they could all sell their shares before the collapse?

The desire to not accept responsibility is as old as man and woman. In the Garden of Eden when the Lord asked of Adam and Eve, had they eaten of the forbidden fruit, Eve said that she had been misled by the serpent and then Adam responded that he had eaten the fruit because the woman, that the Lord had given to him, talked him into it. In other words, not only was it not Adams fault, but he even tried to place blame all the way back to the Lord Himself!

We see criminals before our court systems crying that they are not responsible for their crimes because they came from poverty or were abused as a child. Sadly, that defense has actually worked in some cases and resulted in lesser sentences. A friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail that I suppose has been moving around the Internet. I don’t know who actually may have composed the original but it certainly touches the point. Here it is for you to consider.

“Let's see if I understand how America works lately . . .

If you burn your thighs on the hot coffee you are holding in your lap while driving, you can blame and sue the restaurant.

If your teen-age son kills himself, you blame the rock 'n' roll music or musician he liked.

If you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer, your family blames the tobacco company.

\If your daughter gets pregnant by the football captain, you blame the school for poor sex education.

If you crash into a tree while driving home drunk, you blame the bartender.

If your cousin gets AIDS because the needle he used to shoot up with heroin was dirty, you blame the government for not providing clean ones.

If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.

If your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.

If a crazed person climbs into the cockpit of an airliner and tries to kill the pilots at 35,000 feet and the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the deceased blames the airline.

Writer Unknown

We are teaching the next generation of young people that they can do as they please , assume no responsibility for their actions, and that there is no such thing as retribution, punishment or price to pay.

When I was in school, especially what’s now called middle school, all the way to graduation from high school; corporal punishment was often dished out to those who were disruptive and unruly. I was the recipient of such punishment on occasion and I can assure you that I deserved it at the time. It did not cause me mental anguish. It did not destroy my self esteem. I suffered no long lasting trauma. And, I learned not to go home and tell my parents that I got “licks” at school because my parents would not call and have the ACLU and child services meet them at the school to put a stop to it. My parents gave me a second dose of “licks” usually with a lot more emphasis than the school. Even worse, they made me call and apologize to whomever at school for their having to take such measures. Anyone with ANY common sense knows that this form a discipline is NOT child abuse and absolutely necessary to get to some kids.

We’ve all seen children who talk back to their parents, throw tantrums, kick the dog, break things, etc. when things don’t go the way they want or after some adult or parent tries to enforce some directive. The parents that tolerate such behavior and do not take immediate steps to correct it are simply cheating their children from learning a vital lesson they will need to survive and progress in the world. In many cases, they are setting them up for failure and/or prison. Life and society will not accept this kind of behavior and those that learn the rules early will always be ahead of those who think they can do as they please with no resultant toll for their actions.

So, if I die while sitting at my computer writing stuff like this, can my family sue Bill Gates?