I just reread my post... a bit cryptic if you didn't know what I was thinking. I was reading an article about Shakespeare and came upon the quote I cited yesterday. It got me to thinking about my work, my personal life, and the bigger world around me.
At one time, accountability was an expectation at my work. We were encouraged to be accountable for our responsibilities. If we succeeded, we were rewarded. If we failed, we took ownership and worked to fix it, teach others what went wrong, and ensure it didn't happen again. By taking accountability, we succeeded in being responsible employees. Failure, while not being rewarded, was an avenue to enlightenment and growth. With that philosophy, the company grew into a major success which led to its being acquired by a huge corporation last year.
The new big company does not embrace accountability. No one will raise their hand and say, "That is mine, I am accountable for getting it done right." Instead, everyone runs around with excuses. Sadly, those of us from the old company are getting sucked into this system of finger pointing bureaucracy.
In my personal life, I see people who do the same thing. They go around saying, "If only..." So much of that is bullshit and I've done it too. Parts of my backyard are still an overgrown mess, if only I had more time to... That is BS. I just need to do it. I am too fat, if only I had more time to... That is BS. I can find time.
So many of us just pass the buck on why our lives suck. I can legitimately blame a few things, but in the end, it is me.
In the big world, conservatives blame liberals, liberals blame conservatives. All the groups I listed in yesterday's post point blame at others. Yes, groups are oppressed, discriminated against, and held back. Some of the finger pointing and blame is justified, but much is self-imposed limitations and crappy excuses for their own failures.
Dr. L, I admired your post about nude art as a political statement. You aren't just pointing fingers and saying, "no fair." You are doing something about it.
It is funny how finding a simple bit of art, literature, music, or other artistic creation can crystallize something that has bothered me for a while. That line from King Lear did it for me and that is why I went off on this rant.
Thank you for the credit, Karl. Yes, I stand up in all I do. Some days like you, of course, I realize I didn't get to something I should have. But I have reached a level of satisfaction with life. If something doesn't happen or doesn't work out, well then, it's not the whole of life anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe episode of Showtime's The Tudors that aired Sunday night showed young Katherine Howard standing before the block to be beheaded, looking up and seeing a sliver of moon in the morning sky. "Life is very beautiful," she said with wonder, just as she was to leave it.
Now that inspired me! We must remember how beautiful this life is no matter how we fuck it up sometimes.