Okay, it's soapbox Sunday. After watching the Sunday morning news shows this morning, with all the talk about Congressman Weiner, I cannot help but write about personal responsibility. Where did it go?
I know that responsibility for ones own actions is alive and well in my house, as well as my classroom. We have a phrase that we use in my family, and at school also: If you mess up, you fess up. No blaming others, no excuses, no lying, just admit it. When students use the "he did x to me first" tactic, I often ask them if they've ever watched hockey. Does arguing with the referree ever get a player out of a penalty? No, it doesn't, and it doesn't work in my classroom either. I had a discussion with a group of students earlier this week about keeping their hands to themselves, and of course, the first comment was that another student touched them first. I asked this group "has the blaming someone else tactic ever worked for you this year?" Their answer, a resounding no. Do they still do it? Yes, but they are catching on that it is not effective, at least not with me.
So when I'm watching television, and I hear adults in positions of power blaming the molestation of children (and the coverup that followed) on the sexual revolution, the state of the economy on political foes, and bad decisions as a need for "treatment," I'm dumbfounded. It's always someone else's fault, I couldn't help it, I need treatment. We've become a society who does not accept responsibility for our own actions.
I'm curious about this "treatment" that Congressman Weiner is seeking. I didn't realize that we had treatment programs for making stupid decisions. I certainly hope that whatever this treatment is, it is conducted by the drill sergeant from the Geico commercials, because he needs to man up and get out of mamby-pamby land and take responsibility for his own actions of making stupid decisions.
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