Responsibility. I have talked about this topic before, mostly related to individuals and their inability to accept responsibility when mistakes are made or when something goes wrong. These same individuals will be the first, however, to claim responsibility when something goes well. In reading through the news this morning, however, I was struck how this theme of responsibility, or lack there of, is taking center stage on a more global scale. There have been a number of news articles recently in which blame for some occurrence was passed along to some other country or person, never truly being accepted by anyone. Some of the incidents are as follows. A nuclear scientist in Iran was killed due to a "terrorist bomb blast". Tibetan monks setting themselves on fire are being blamed on overseas plots by the Chinese government. A Russian spacecraft fails miserably and its failure is blamed on anti-spacecraft missiles. Syria's increasing tensions are blamed on outside forces. Shall I go on? These are only highlights from today's news. And that is not all. I could go on listing more stories in which the buck is passed on and on ad infinitum. Is it that responsibility simply scares people? Or is it more a matter that they think anything that does go wrong must be the responsibility of some foreign party? I think that in large part, the answer is entrenched in both questions. I think that taking responsibility, especially when things go wrong, is frightening to a lot of people and also, they have a general feeling that there must have been some other cause other than themselves for any mishap.
Politicians and world leaders have long been known for not accepting responsibility for their actions when things go wrong. I think it is getting worse, however, in light of technology and globalization. With a wider audience than there was in the past and everyone looking for people to slip up, there is more pressure placed on leaders (either real of fictional pressure) to make sure they do the right thing. However, people inherently make mistakes, it is part of who we are. Politicians and world leaders are, after all, human (despite what they may think of themselves). In part, the blame can be shared for this increased pressure. We, as citizens of whatever country, expect more and more out of these officials. If a mistake is made, the media and certain groups will be the first to parade that mistake around and criticize judgement, decision making ability, and even the person themselves. Because of this pressure, and the pressure that these officials inherently place upon themselves, they feel that every action they make must be the right one, and if it isn't, then someone else screwed it up for them. This increased pressure to be perfect and to make no mistakes detracts from the human condition. Personally, if a politician or world leader screwed up and actually apologized or took responsibility for their actions, I would trust them more. I would see a recognition of their own mistake and would be more likely to think that they would learn from it and move forward. This isn't necessarily true, but simply taking responsibility goes a long way towards building trust.
To be perfectly honest, I don't know what the answer is. I could suggest that all world leaders attend a seminar on what it means to be human. Or I could suggest an increase in the media being sympathetic, but neither of these are realistic. Perhaps what we could start to do as citizens is begin to accept that these politicians and world leaders are human and that they will make mistakes. We currently hold them up to such a high degree of scrutiny and expect near perfection from them. By doing this, we are stripping them of the ability to make mistakes, as we all do, and make it less likely that they will take responsibility for their actions when something goes wrong. The sooner we can accept them as people like us, the sooner they might accept the fact that they will make mistakes and take responsibility for them. Even if they continue to view themselves as better than everyone else and persist in maintaining a perfect image of themselves, we would all be better off for changing our view of them and consequently of ourselves. We must continue to allow the possibility of others making mistakes and accept their apologies when offered. To go after someone maliciously because they made a mistake is to strip away their humanity and push them towards a mentality of passing the buck. It is not an easy thing to do, yet if we try, perhaps we can slowly change our perspective of others, responsibility, and what it truly means to be human.
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