Personal Responsibility

The other day I was quite busy and had taken a short break to read a few of the blogs. I read one entry by a friend and, due to the basic story of fortitude and success (for which I'm a sucker), I borrowed and quickly copied it to my own blog and returned back to work giving it little further thought. Until, that is, I received notification of an incoming message from another friend. Upon reading this message which stated the post was offending, and because I didn't have time to give it needed thought, I simply deleted the post. Had I had available time to look back over the post, I might have decided it was worthy of my own stance in life and kept it and debated the issue with the friend. Unfortunately, time was not a luxury. The offense to a friend deserved more attention than I was able to give in the moment and the sacrifice of a personal opinion seemed insignificant.

I have not returned to that particular blog entry for that isn't what's plagued me since then and I consider the blog content inconsequential. What has been on my mind is the matter of personal responsibility. For myself, I take personal responsibility seriously and yet in a moment's time I threw that to the wayside in order to satisfy an immediate impulse. While reading quickly the content and finding an interesting story, I didn't delve into the ramifications of the political intent which obviously surrounded it....an act which is totally irresponsible in these times...nor did I look into the character and ambitions of this particular person whose story it was.

That being said, my actual issue is with responsibility; accepting that I alone am responsible for my every word, act, thought, and emotion, as well as the course of my life. While I could have left the post for each to determine it's worth to them individually, the carelessness with which I used something which would be associated with me is incomprehensible considering my stance on personal responsibility. Someone else's truth is not my own and only becomes mine if I adopt it. Whatever I include on my blog is representative of me and will be accepted by anyone reading it as being something I agree with. Thus I speak of the carelessness with posting in haste.

I do firmly believe in personal responsibility and see many areas in which it's lacking in today's world. Should it matter what others think of me? Perhaps not, but it does matter what I think of myself. Why is that important to me? Because I've no desire to stagnate in ignorance or be guided through life by anyone other than myself. I can strive to be a better person for myself. I'm fond of saying that you are the only person you can't live without because it's the truth. Take away everyone else in the universe and if you're not happy with yourself or your life, there is no-one and nothing else left to blame.

I don't agree with those who continually blame others for the state of their existence even while I can empathize. We can place blame where it belongs for actual events perpetrated against us, but beyond that it belongs to us. Every decision or lack of decision we make belongs to us. We are accountable for ourselves even though we'd like to have someone other than ourselves to blame. How we choose to go forward is determined by us alone or if we choose to remain in place.

I also believe that we are influenced by everything within our awareness. What we decide to read, watch on television, friends we choose, areas we spend our time.....whatever....all have opportunity to affect our thoughts and emotions. Would I presume to think that anyone reading my blog be influenced in some way? Not necessarily, but why take the chance that the impression, feeling, or thought they take away be one which I myself wouldn't support? I don't choose to carelessly voice propaganda or rumor, so why would I carelessly write or post the same? So, I regain my sense of responsibility and again apologize to a friend and thank him for the reminder of the importance of awareness.