The other day I watched a program about a man who caused a car accident. Anyone paying attention was well aware that he was distracted—driving while on his cell phone. Yet, three people tried to convince him that it was not his fault and that things just happen.
Another situation that I personally witnessed involved a woman who lost custody of her children because of her addiction and her unwillingness to get sober. She complained to everyone who would listen, how people had let her down. “No one was there for me,” she cried. “Had my mom been a better mom, had that judge been more sympathetic, had my lawyer been more competent, had my ex-husband been more tolerant, had the system helped me – I would have been different.”
Those situations, and so many more, got me thinking about how often we try to escape taking responsibility for our actions that cause harm to ourselves and to other people. It is always someone else’s fault.
Ultimately, we, and we alone, are all responsible for the choices that we make. And, we don’t help those we love by allowing them to not take responsibility for their actions. Every day we make choices as to how we want to live. What comes as result of those choices is our life – good, bad, or indifferent. Until we truly become willing to take responsibility for the choices we make, bad things will continue to befall us.
Is there something in your life that you have done that you do not want to own up to? Is there something that continues to haunt you, regardless of how often you (and others) say that, “It’s not your fault?”
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