The Blame Game: Taking Responsibility for Our Actions

There’s this joke of a toddler who was pulling the family’s cat-pet by its tail while the cat struggled to free itself. The mother yelled: “Jim, stop pulling the cat!” He replied “Mom, I’m only holding his tail. He is doing the pulling!” In a sense, that boy was refusing responsibility for doing the pulling. But wait; that boy was only doing what most of us like to do—shifting blame and responsibility!

Refusing responsibility for what we have done, should have done and should be doing is so innate to mankind as our need for air. And no wonder, for right from the start of human history, our forefather, Adam, blamed God for giving him “the woman” after he willfully disobeyed God. He did so to avoid responsibility (Interestingly, up till today, many men ignorantly blame women for the woes of the world). The woman in turn blamed the serpent. And so, following their bad example, we, their descendants always want something or someone to blame for our own actions and/or inactions!

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” Eleanor Roosevelt

So, now is the time for each one of us to examine ourselves introspectively. After reading this article, please take the responsibility to pull yourself over to the nearest mirror you can find. Look at yourself critically, whoever you may be—whether the most powerful in whatever or the least powerful; rich or poor—and ask yourself: Do I take responsibility for my actions and inactions? If yes, how can I prove it? And if no, what can I do differently?

A Belief System that Disables

Many of us grew up in societies where right from birth, we are socialised to believe that God sees and controls everybody and everything that happens on earth. So. whatever happens, whether good or bad it is from God. Thus many people believe that they have been pre-destined by God and so have no control over what they do or what happens to them.

Yet still, there are those that believe that whatever they do and say are a result of their genetic programming; and there seems to be scientific theories, phony as they may be, that support them.

As a result, such people don’t take the responsibility to take stock of their own actions and inactions in life to identify what changes they should make to improve the way they think and act. That is why it is not uncommon to hear people exclaim: “God, why me?!!!” whenever some misfortune befalls them. But come to think of it: why you? Who should it be? Who deserves that misfortune? The truth though is that “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)So leave God alone and accept responsibility!

Unfortunately, such debilitating beliefs are carried over into high office. And that has had a bad impact on management.

Political Office and the Masses

Because many have the erroneous belief that people that hold political office were placed there by God, the politician has cleverly capitalized on that to make the masses think that their very survival depends on a particular political entity and leadership. Unfortunately, most people, even among the learned have fallen prey to that deceit. What is the result? Overdependence on politicians for survival and good life, which are very illusive, at best! The reason is this:

The political strategy has been for every political entity to blame the other and thus accept no responsibility except for the good. Instead of having the mentality as expressed by John F. Kennedy that “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future”, actors in political office continue in that same under-handed strategy. Is it because they know they don’t have the solutions? Well, your guess is as good as mine! Or it’s a reflection of what Bob Marley said: “Trying to belittle our integrity now, they say what we know is just what they teach us. And we’re so ignorant ’cause every time they can reach us through political strategy. They keep us hungry and when you gonna get some food your brother got to be your enemy!”? Yet, it doesn’t stop with the politician.

Horrible Public Administration

The fear of accepting responsibility is also common placed in public administration. Thanks to cronyism and nepotism, people in public administration tend to fall on their string of degrees as basis of their competence rather than real-time performance and delivery. Hence, they continue to perform below par while enjoying all the benefits that go with their office. What is more, their superiors who should bring them to book would not raise a finger! And that is unlike the following experience of one former headmaster of my most cherished secondary school, Ada Senior High:

The late Mr. MK. Otiboe reportedly had his salary withheld by the Ghana Education Service (GES) at one time because he failed to ensure that school fees in arrears were collected and duly accounted for. That compelled him to do the right thing and rectify the situation, which for me, was a good supervisory action by the GES. If the same measure were applied to the managers of Ghana’s utilities, for example, I believe they would solve these water and electricity problems in no time, instead of annoying the business community and households with primary school-level explanations carved and embellished in grandiloquence!

“You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” Jim Rohn

What We Should Do

In whatever capacity we find ourselves, we should hold ourselves personally responsible for our actions and inactions. We can do so if we recognize that “[we] cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” (Abraham Lincoln) So hold the bull by the horn and find pride in doing so.

On the coat of arms of Ghana are the words Freedom and Justice. But there can be no true freedom without responsibility. For, “Responsibility is the price of freedom.” (Elbert Hubbard) Thus be bold to “take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” (Jim Rohn) Stop blaming the cat. You are doing the pulling. So go stand in front of that mirror and take that test right away.

The author Jules Nartey-Tokoli is Founder and Group CEO at Groupe Soleil Vision, comprising Soleil Consults (US), LLC, NubianBiz.Com, ShopNubian.Com and Soleil Publications. He has lived and worked in both Ghana and the United States, having extensive experience in Strategy, Management, Entrepreneurship, Premium Audit Advisory and Web consulting. He has also published several articles on Strategy, Management, Corporate Governance, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Economics, e-Commerce, Information Technology (IT), Customer Service/Care, Sales, Marketing, Communication, Branding, Education, among others. 

Jules Nartey-Tokoli

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