Remember when you were ten and you really, really, really wanted a puppy? And you begged and begged and all you got were lectures about how much care a puppy needed: “a puppy needs walked, and bathed, and brushed, and fed twice a day, and taken to the vet, and trained, and cuddled, and read to, and helped with its homework, and frequent trips on private jets…” and “you don’t even make your bed in the mornings! What should make me think you would take care of a puppy?” and “if you show me that you're responsible then maaaaybe I will begin to possibly consider getting you a dog someday.” So you promised up and down and inside out that you would make your bed every day, and brush your teeth, and go to bed without being asked, and do your homework early…And finally when you were sixteen and your interest in puppies was finally waning in comparison to sports and members of the opposite sex, your parents decided you were responsible enough to get a puppy. “But you can bet,” your mom told you in the firm voice that only years of motherhood can master, “that I will not so much as lift a finger to take care of that thing. It is entirely your responsibility.” And even while you accepted the challenge you knew that if that puppy ever left so much as one single hair on the furniture and you didn’t pick it up, you would go down in infamy as the most irresponsible person to ever defame the family genes.
Remember that? Or maybe you don’t. Because apparently, based on the current adult population, children no longer learn lessons of responsibility from their parents. Instead, they learn entitlement. How much they are owed by everybody else for being alive and how frequently they are viciously robbed of their rights by those who do not appreciate laziness, ineptitude, and corruption. A puppy? You want a puppy? Get a puppy! If you find you can’t take care of it, Washington will certainly bail you out. It is, after all, your right to be negligent in a free country such as ours.
I was raised (yes, actually raised. Not set in front of the TV, or in the alley behind our house, or aborted entirely. RAISED) by parents who not only required us to be personally responsible, but also taught us not to pass the blame on to others, even if they deserved it! Yes, even if they deserved it. If it was a matter of justice, life, or death, it was acceptable to make a case for yourself in defense of something you were accused of doing, but didn’t actually do. But even if you knew who did do it, even if their eyes were burning holes through you, you didn’t, unless it was a matter of justice, life, or death, tell who had done it. My parents never stormed into a room and shouted, “Who threw the paper towels in a puddle of water in the bathroom?” Instead, they stormed in and said, “Somebody better go pick up the paper towels that are sitting in a puddle of water in the bathroom.” If you had done it, you fixed it and the case was closed. If you hadn’t done it, you fixed it and got the satisfaction of knowing you were a bigger person than the one who had done it. It’s a method of deferment. Defer the blame to fix the problem. A shouting match about who did something graceless, obscene, or stupid, would never have gotten the damn paper towels out of the puddle because anyone, if he is human, is going to get defensive when somebody points a big, accusing finger in his face. Don’t demand to know who messed up. Fix it. SOMEBODY JUST FIX IT. Take responsibility for your world. Be an upstanding, responsible human being, even if the whole world is exploding around you. And, most importantly, when you mess up, however small or obscenely huge, accept the blame and do what you should.
It’s a simple lesson, but it is not one that applies solely to deviant ten year olds who leave paper towels in puddles. And that’s the problem, it seems. The majority of American “grown-ups” – those who are in high places and those who are not – seem to have completely forgotten those basic childhood lessons. “I have bad credit because I spent more money than I made and made the assumption that rectangular pieces of plastic would solve my problems. So what do I do? Stop spending money that I don’t have. Why bother? The world owes me money and there are dozens of lawyers and companies that are more than willing to screw around with the numbers and cut me a break I don’t deserve.” “I am a bank giving enormous loans to people with bad credit and pretty soon my funds will run out and people are going to freak out and try to withdraw money, but the money’s not there because I loaned it out negligently.” Should we allow the bank to go under, allow the basic principles of capitalism on which this country was built to prosper and let the incompetent companies fail? Heck no! Socialism is the answer. The government will save us.
There was a little blurb in USA Today the other day entitled “Museum joins list of economy’s victims.” Apparently, Brandeis University in Massachusetts is shutting down its Rose Art Museum because, according to the school’s president “The Rose is a jewel but, for the most part, it’s a hidden jewel. We felt that at this point, given the recession and the financial crisis, we had no choice.” Oh horror of horrors! Call in the troops! You mean this place is actually taking the initiative to manage its finances responsibly? You mean that it is willing to sacrifice something that is a drain on the system in order to make some money and avoid biting the dust? Victim indeed.
If one more person above the age of seven tells me that something or another about his life is not “fair!” I’m going to spit in his face. Is mine the only mother left who taught her children that life is not fair? The world doesn’t owe anybody fair. And the government certainly doesn’t owe anybody fair. Sometimes you work hard and good things come of it. And sometimes, you work hard and crap happens. That’s not a problem, it’s not an injustice, or a tough break. That’s LIFE. And instead of crying about it, or calling for other people more incompetent than yourself to “fix” it, suck it up and fix it yourself. Take responsibility for your life, whether it’s your own fault or not!
Amen ROya! You hit the nail on the head- no one owes you a thing simply for being alive. If you were born into this world devoid of government or a substantial community, what then? Who owes you then? Where are you going to get your welfare checks?
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