My Life

The other day, I posted about personal responsibility.  One area in which I think we Americans need to be more responsible for our own actions is that of ethics in business.  We liberals often like to criticize big businesses for doing unethical things (or things we perceive as unethical, or at least questionable).  We criticize them for paying CEOs big bucks while only offering minimum wage to their workers--for maximizing returns to shareholders rather than increasing salaries to the little guys, for moving jobs to other countries where labor is cheaper, etc. So this is a topic I have thought about a lot over the last few years.  One thing that always comes to my mind is "Am I engaging in the same behavior?  Am I dirtying my own hands?"  I can blog about how Walmart needs to pay its employees more or how restaurant servers should be paid at least minimum wage, etc.  But I have found that the loudest form of communication in our society is monetary ...

In her DNC convention speech this summer, Michelle Obama said "when they go low, we go high".  Many liberals have echoed this saying, and many have given their interpretation of what it means or have stated examples of how they wish to do follow the advice.  In its own rite, I believe it to be good advice.  And I wish to take this opportunity to talk about something that has been grating on me slowly over time but more increasingly during the last few days. First, to exemplify the saying itself on an unrelated topic (but one where the example is far more dramatic), I would like to talk about foreign policy.  Many people (conservatives and liberals alike) will say things like "bomb the hell out of ISIS".  I understand that it is natural to want to retaliate.  It is human nature to want revenge.  When someone attacks us, we want to attack back.  But I also know that what Theodore Geisel wanted to teach us in his book The Butter Battle Book is true...

In light of current events, I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the importance of personal responsibility.  I will do so by first providing an example in my own life.  This January, I was pulled over.  I wasn't sure why.  I didn't think I had been speeding.  The officer told me that my vehicle registration had expired.  In sincere incredulity, I responded "It is?" I honestly thought that I had remembered to renew it on time last year.  It turns out I had been driving around for six months with an expired registration.  When I realized this, after I was given the citation, I drove straight to the DMV to renew.  On the court date, I appeared in court, pled "no contest", paid my fine, and went home. I was unaware that I had broken the law.  It was not intentional.  However, when it was brought to my attention, I owned my actions and did what I could to make it right.  I did not deny it.  I didn't blame anyone else...