Marc Legare is a philosopher and motorcycle adventurist.
He has travelled extensively, worked and lived in Australia, US, and across Canada.
He has a varied working career including: Firefighter, Lawyer, Navy, Motorcycle Importer, plus others.
He chose to return to southern Saskatchewan because of his family's deep roots here.
As a columnist, Legare's columns will offer food for thought.
In our modern world full of people who consider themselves victims for one reason or another, self-responsibility has become a swear word. Gone is the day when someone is told to "Deal with it" or that, "life is not always fair." Today, many have a paradigm that if you have a problem, turn to others and/or authority to fix it. Make no mistake, there are people who are true victims and need protection, but personal responsibility must be taken into account. What happened? Why has it become so offensive to even suggest it?
Let's take a moment to remember some precious words of wisdom that demonstrate a self-responsible mindset. Once upon a time, we used phrases such as "sink or swim," "pull your socks up," or "you made your bed, so you must lie in it." One that I personally like is "if you want to dance, you must pay the piper." All of these venerable sayings, and many more, that instilled personal responsibility are gone from our culture and may even be considered boorish; to our personal as well as societal detriment.
Currently, suggesting someone is responsible for their own decisions is only spoken with a whisper, lest you offend any of the burgeoning legions of people who consider themselves victims and those who support same. It is dangerous to even suggest someone is accountable for their own safety and security; so much so, if you speak such blasphemy you are looked at with disdain, as if you used a vulgar word in the middle of a childcare facility.
Ultimately, we all must live the lives we have been given and when we are faced with challenges, it is us who must live out the results. If we expect others to do this for us, sooner or later, the "other" may not be there to assist. The over reliance on authorities to protect us and bail us out is just one example of a lack of personal responsibility. Sooner or later, we all must deal with unpleasant things on our own. A solid helping of taking charge of our own life is, at a minimum, equally as valuable as recognizing your victimhood. After all, can't we all claim victimhood on some level or another?
We need not consider words as "you made your bed so you must lie in it" as vulgar, but as empowering. These words are a reminder that our actions have consequences. Not all, but many negative things in our life we either created or contributed to. As offensive as that sounds to some.
At the end of the day we all must "sink or swim"; the universe doesn't give us a choice. What we can do is take responsibility for ourselves and our actions. Freedom through taking control of a situation as best we can at the time is true emancipation. Choosing self-responsibility gives us a measure of control by relying on our power to fix what needs to be fixed and stop waiting for someone else to fix it.
Abraham Lincoln made it plain, "You cannot evade the responsibility of tomorrow by avoiding it today"...
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
