“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.”
~Albert Ellis~
I was taught responsibility at an early age. While in Junior High, a friend of mine became pregnant. I was very confused, because at the time it was not “socially acceptable” for a teen to be pregnant. I asked my father what I should do. His answer to me was “Is she your friend? If she is then you be her friend. What has happened to her doesn’t change who she is.” He taught me in that simple conversation that, we control how we think and what we do.
I have made it a point in my life to take responsibility for my actions. There have been occurrences in my life which could have made me a “victim” if I had allowed it. I didn’t. I have made mistakes in my personal and professional life. These I freely admitted because I know that mistakes are how we learn. I can say that I have never made the same mistake twice.
In this particular time in history, it seems to be the norm to play the “blame game”. There are some things in life that happen and quite often they are no one individual’s fault. Why is it that people have such a difficult time accepting this and, then, taking responsibility for the future? Are we not teaching our children that if they steal a cookie it is their action, not the action of the cookie jar, their parent or teacher or someone else?
I will probably continue this discussion at a later date, but for now it is just a reflection of …
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