October: the Fall of Responsibility
Posted by Guru | Tagged as: health care, responsibility, weight
“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
I attended a wake a couple of weeks ago for my friend Christine’s dad, Frank. Frank was a great man (and a fun golf buddy) and there was tremendous love in the room. I spoke for a while with Christine’s husband, Stuart. He is a giant bear of a man, 6’8″ and 300 pounds. He makes me feel small– no easy feat. Stu and I don’t see eye to eye politically all that often, but what I love about Stu is that, even when he disagrees with you, it is clear he disagrees with your opinion but still has great respect for you.
We got involved in a conversation about the Great Health Care Debate. Now, many people have many different views on how health care should be tackled in this country, but Stu boiled it down to this: “The big problem with this country,” he said, “is that there is no sense of personal responsibility.” That thought stuck with me for days, and not just because Stu and I were agreeing.
I’ve written about Stu and Christine before. A couple of years ago, they lost a combined 120 pounds, not by fasting or protein shakes or gimmicks, but by cutting out all the extra processed foods in their home. They realized that, in the long run, the processed foods and the extra weight that they were carrying were going to make them sick. They took action, took a giant garbage bag to their pantry and lost the weight. They took responsibility.
This week I have been faced with numerous situations of individuals not taking responsiblity. The specifics are unimportant. The common denominator is that people feel that work should be done for them. Want to lose weight? The trainer will do that. Want to feel better? The doctor will do that. Work sucks? Boss’s fault. Co-worker’s fault. Client’s fault. Anybody’s fault but mine.
Then a friend posted this video. Again, regardless of your political stance on the topic, the speech is about personal responsibility and serving the greater good.
This is a tough time for everyone. It’s easy to pass the buck. It is easy to let anger and blaim fester. But when you sense that anger and that blaim, take a step back. Take responsibility for your small piece of the pie. Decide how you can make the situation better. We all benefit.
Couldn’t agree more, Michael. Another good example is personal debt. I like the individual analogy because, in reality, our communities, our cities, our countries, heck! our world is just the SUM of our individual actions and taking (or not) responsibility. The global economic and financial crisis is a perfect example of that.
It IS ALL about civil rights. If we deny equal rights to one person, each & every one of us is in jeopardy.
My mantra is personal responsibility, especially when it comes to health. Too many of us are “reactive”. We will do what we want as long as we can and get a “pill” from the doctor when the damage has been done. Individually, we need to be “proactive” and take charge of our health before things go wrong. We need to stop relying on a confused health care system to take care of us when our bodies start to shut down.
In the end, we as individuals and as a community could be so much happier and healthier. But that isn’t the easy road…