I consider the greatest sign of psychological well being to be the understanding that you do have choices, and the ability to take repsonsibility for your own actions and mistakes. Likewise the greatest dysfunction is the inability to accept responsibility for your own mistakes and decisions.

Without facing responsibility you will take no action to change the course to correct a problem; you will instead choose to blame others for the predicament that you created.

Thus we blame oil companies and OPEC for our own failure to allow for the increase in supply, while demand continued to grow. We blame Wall Street and bankers for our own decisions to encourage people to buy houses they could not afford.

Victor Davis Hanson writes in:

June 4, 2008
All About Me

excerpts

Like all perpetual adolescents who suffer arrested development, we always want things both ways: Don’t drill or explore for more energy, but nevertheless demand ever more fuel from other suppliers.

There are never bad and worse choices, but only a Never Never Land of good and even-better alternatives. Housing not only has to stay affordable for buyers, but also must appreciate in value to give instant equity to those who have just become owners.

When things don’t go well, we always blame someone else. Why drill off Santa Barbara or Alaska when we can sue those terrible Saudis for not putting more oil platforms in their Persian Gulf?

And why accept that the conduct of all wars is flawed and victory goes usually to those who persevere in making the needed adjustments when we can just keep pointing fingers at the official who disbanded the Iraqi army or sent too few troops after the invasion?

read the complete Hanson article here.

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