Assuming Responsibility
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I recently saw a picture of a boy who had been running
through his house with a fork and somehow tripped and got it stuck in his nose.
Perhaps you've seen the photo yourself on the Internet. It looked pretty
painful, funny but painful. It occurred to me this is how changes begin to be
implemented in our society. I'm sure this incident resulted in a costly hospital
bill to have the fork surgically removed from the boy's nose, along with some
plastic surgery, and in order to avoid a costly medical bill, the family will
inevitably try to sue someone, such as the manufacturer of the fork. If
successful, we will probably see some legislation emerge requiring fork
manufacturers to change the design and create a "safety fork," imprint a safety
warning on all forks, e.g.; "Warning! Use of this fork may be hazardous to
your health," and there will probably be a recall on all existing forks. All
this, because the parents were too stupid to supervise a five year old.
In reality, the parents and child are obviously at fault
here. Either the parents didn't teach the child properly, which would be my
guess, or the child was just plain thick and needed to learn the lesson the hard
way. Instead, someone else will have to pay for this little snafu and take a
great tool like the fork and make it illegal. Suddenly, it's not the parents
fault, it is yours. We have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of such frivolous
lawsuits over the years, such as the infamous McDonald's hot coffee case.
I don't know where this propensity for being portrayed as a
victim comes from, but I have my suspicions, namely those who do not assume
responsibility for their actions and prefer to be wards of the state, whereby
someone else picks up the bill every time the person screws up. I fail to see
the logic in this.
"But Tim, have you no compassion for the suffering of
these poor souls?"
I have plenty of compassion, a whole truckload of it, but
I'll donate my money to those I believe deserve it, not to some misfits who are
forcing me to pay for the problems they created. Where I come from, that's
called "bunco."
If you live in a capitalist society, as we do, you are
required to assume responsibility for your actions and demonstrate a little
personal initiative. Sure, we should help those less fortunate than ourselves,
but this should be voluntary as opposed to mandatory. Unfortunately, there is a
movement underfoot in this country to change all of this which would negate the
need to be responsible. However, if everybody gets on the dole, I'm just
wondering who is going to pay the bills? You know what, it won't work.
Next time you think your problems are caused by someone else,
look in the mirror first.
Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective
companies.
About the Author
Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of
M. Bryce & Associates
(MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the
management consulting field. He can be reached at
timb001@phmainstreet.com
