Good afternoon all, allow me to introduce you to someone we are all familiar with, but few accept responsibility for, my friend and yours:  blame.

It seems that we only acknowledge this friend when we are forced to.  Most of the time, we act as if we had nothing to do with this friend and we leave him standing all alone in the corner until someone acknowledges him or decides to place him on someone else’s shoulder.

Are you guilty of this?  I know I have been from time to time.  Why do we do this?  Why do we fail to accept the blame and fail to take responsibility for our actions?  Why do we find it easier to place the blame on someone else and let them handle it and the consequences that follow?

I can see as a child it is easier to say “He did it, not me.”  However, there is a time and place for childhood and sadly, it like most things in life, has to end sometime.  As we grow up (or tell ourselves that we have), we are taught that we need to account for our actions (or I would like to think that this is a trait that we are taught) and that we must suffer the consequences for these said actions.  Unfortunately, most of us hate to suffer or pay the price whenever we do something wrong, so we tend to place the blame elsewhere in order to avoid receiving any punishment for our actions.  Society today seems to be overflowing with “passing the blame onto someone else-itis”.  No one it seems wants to be held responsible.

One case in point is that our government has the uncanny ability to make poor choices regarding policies that affect the everyday person.  They in turn blame the other party when these policies fail.  The average Joe suffers for their inability to accept their culpability in the matter at hand.  Bitterness grows and distrust is what the nation will reap from this.

However, it happens right at home as well.  For example, when a teenager makes one bad decision after another and gets in trouble because of this, he shifts the blame onto his friends stating he was under peer pressure and forced to act this way.  Better yet, he places the blame on his parents citing their lack of discipline was the reason he committed wrongful acts.  He fails to look inward to see why he made these decisions and decides it is easier to shift the blame onto someone else.

People, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  We are all in charge of our own mind and we decide what we will or will not do in our lives.  No one has control over that but us.  The devil didn’t make you do it; no one held a gun to your head, and whatever lame excuse you can come up with.  Just admit you are responsible!

An employee trips over his own two feet and falls and fractures his leg.  He then decides to sue his employer for compensation.  He did not slip on a wet floor or stumble over a box on the floor.  He tripped over his own feet, yet instead of acknowledging his klutzy side, he chooses to financially benefit from this experience and sues.  On top of refusing to admit his actions, he now wants money for the suffering he, himself, caused.

You made the choice and now you have to face whatever comes from that choice.  No one is going to hold your hand and say you are not responsible for whatever the action was.  You need to stand behind your actions, not hide behind someone else.

Yes, sometimes you will be taken advantage of and sometimes you will pay the price for another’s deception, but that does not give you the right to play the same game.  We need to look out for one another and stand up for what is right.  We need to accept that we are very capable of making a wrong choice at any given moment; that is human nature.  However, when we do make the wrong choice we then have to deal with the outcome of that choice.  The mature and respectable person will realize that, accept his “lumps” and move on.  No one is responsible for your actions but you.

Decide for yourself.  Are you an honest individual who seeks out justice if you were wrongfully accused?  Are you strong enough to accept the appropriate punishment if you committed a wrong? Are you able to utilize discernment in the situation at hand to make the correct choice? Then you should push away any thoughts that lead you to transfer your mistake onto someone else and expect that person to atone for your error in judgment.  Act like an adult and swallow your pride, ride out the ramifications from your choice, and remember a new day will start tomorrow.  The good news is that with tomorrow comes another chance to start over.  People will respect you more if you respect yourself and accept responsibility for your choices.  Choosing the right path to walk down is a choice and choosing to take a wrong detour is also a choice.  The ball is in your court as to how you want to live and how you want others to see who you are.