It's All My Fault

Responsibility has fled the country. In this culture of self-absorption and blame, the typical American, across gender and racial lines, sings a song of "Gi'me, gi'me, gi'me. It's not my fault. I have a right to have it all for free." The black blames the white, the woman blames the man, the worker blames the boss, the manager blames the staff, "It's not my fault! Somebody take care of me. Somebody make it right." And now we've hired the right socialist democrat to get us there. Higher taxes promised for those who work to provide services for those who won't. "Down with capitilism," is the general cry. Give us food and medicine, but don't make us work. Bail out the bankrupt, recycle the irrisponsible managers, print more money to pay the debt.

Can you imagine a country in which every person took responsibility for his or her fast food bag rather than throwing it out the window while driving down the freeway? We'd probably save billions of tax dollars in cleanup. Or what if the man who didn't want to support a child prevented the undesirable by wearing a condom. Maybe if our country can't afford some necessary social services without destroying the value of the dollar by printing more money, the government should cut back on some aid going to other countries who have displayed their own lack of responsibility. Rather than promoting accountability, this country careens down the path of destruction, placing the mirage of fiscal bandages on gaping wounds to stop the hemorrhage.

Can we expect anything else? In order to be elected, politicians don the gown of blamelessness. Anything undesirable in their past is buried and if not, attributed to another. When have we seen a politician, without an arm painfully twisted, accepting responsibility for his or her mistakes? Without the strength and wisdom to be forthright about their own humanity, how can they govern the rest of us?

Perhaps it is a plague of human nature in which we all run madly after Adam and Eve droning the same mantra. You know, Sin. I hear it from my kids, starting almost as soon as they can speak, "he did it," "she did it." The other night my husband blamed Annie when he, himself, broke a light bulb. Even I, with my self-righteous ramblings, succumb to the blaming game.

The incredible thing is, responsibility is empowering. The more blunders I can accept accountability for, the more power I have to change not only my own behavior but also situations in which I place myself. Discovering mistakes in my past allows me to improve my future. Thus, programs such as affirmative action dis empower the individual because they encourage blame rather then responsibility.

So, here we are, skidding down the slope into the greatest depression the United States has ever had, by all accounts. In the spirit of the moment, let me take the opportunity to let you know, it's all my fault.