It’s Time to be Accountable

These past few months have been a time of studying the concept of being accountable – for yourself, your connection with others, the nation we live within, and the planet as a whole. Periodically, this is sort of an unconscious process of repositioning my true north – we all know we slip through the days and years.

I’ve known for years my personal “why,” and that’s nothing I need to discuss here. Knowing this, I can at least narrow my accountability to four major topics.

1. Know where you are.
2. Know where you want to go.
3. Examination – Peel back the layers, examining everything so you know “what’s what” and “who’s who.”
4. Take Action – If you know to do good and do it not, then you are wasting step #1.

We can add all kinds of sub-steps to each of these, but these appear to be the bottom line. Know where you stand and what to do about that position. Know “why” you stand where you are and decide to pick up your feet, marching forward, or changing directions.

Here’s an Example:

I heard a report on the news this past week about recycling plastic woes. It’s only marginally successful. Each person buries nearly 300 lbs of plastic in landfills yearly. We don’t do good in creating better plastics or recycling them for future reuse.

What happens after a century of plastic-filled landfills get overwhelmed? I dunno. (Grammarly still doesn’t know what to do with that previous sentence.)

We are still examining the problem. We try to take action, but most of their results are not what we hope for. Will these landfills become the future mines to recover what we’ve tossed? Maybe. Eureka! There are riches in those crusted piles of refuse!

Past the first two steps previously identified, there are two that always create a struggle.

Examination: Analyze For the Sake of Knowing

Knowing is better than guessing. Supposition could be an intelligent guess, but if your IQ is questioned, it’s just a word with no teeth. No bite. Nothing that would make the report tell you anything truthful.

Pick on yourself for this moment. Why are you like you are? Don’t shrug your shoulder as if to say you don’t know or care! When others reject you because you are you, you should care what you are and how you come across.

I was thinking about famous people. Politicians. Entertainers. Sports figures. You know. People who make more money than most of us will see in a lifetime. Do they care what you or I think of them? Probably not. Sandpaper skin that is shark-tough keeps them immune to our viewpoint. Until they want something, that’s when I see them as swarmy creatures from the swamp as they wind their way through your thoughts and garner your money and support for their next project.

That’s probably one reason why I write.

Writing is a slow process of mulling over thoughts, pondering positions, choosing paths, and then stating a belief or idea. Writing helps to solidify my thinking process, but it’s not in a vacuum as many journals are. I hope someone reading will take me to task for something I’ve said. It happens so seldomly. Public debate on a soapbox probably gets a different response.

Nail your thesis on the door of a cathedral as Martin Luther did, and you’ll probably get canceled, which is how we handle people we disagree with in modern times.

But our social presence challenges anyone to disagree with who we are, and we quickly nail the lid on someone on the flip side of our position.

What If:

What if you made your belief system into an exam and then took the yearly quiz? Would you be content that you’re on the path you started, or do you even want to travel to the same destination?

Make A Decision

It’s time to be accountable.

We are being forced into a non-combustible world. But replacement technology requires so much expense and effort and has its own problems. Battery technology still creates its own waste. Recycling traverses a path from minute particles combined to create a product, and then we don’t know what to do to reclaim.

Throw Climate Change into the conversation. The list is endless of the dead-end roads we are living on. New Zealand is taxing Cow Belches and Farts because they contribute to our failing climate systems. Have you ever smelt the industrial zones of any nation?

It’s time to be accountable.

Don’t Get Me Started!

From relationships to wasted legislature time and how we collect and spend hard-earned taxpayers’ hard-won dollars.

Everything needs to be accountable.

Where do we start? We each have our own priorities, and what’s important to one is not to another. There’s no central focus until we reach a starting point of focus.

The rallying cry, “We’re in this together!” was a lie during the pandemic. Don’t get the vaccine? We’ll force you out of your career and keep you at arm’s length. Close the economy, and we are all bottom feeders trying to find a good deal. Stay home! Unless you are in the service industry, you must go to work! Close the churches but keep the liquor and pot stores open.

Who do you trust? You? Me? Them? Us? We, the people?

Advertisements during an election cycle are a waste of dollars, except your livelihood may be threatened because you live off those dollars. I’m sorry. Everything we hear is a zig-zag crooked tale to twist the stats and figures into a vote for the candidate of your choice. Long before you tout your candidate, I’ve made up my mind. Quit twisting facts and start painting an accurate picture. Then you may have me listening for a long time before I choose.

What Does This Sound Like?

I’m not sure I care what you think I am. This frustration level hits on every front for all of us. We each have our own viewpoints, and frustrations start with cold water until you heat it, and it becomes a vapor. Every step of this transition produces frustrations for all of us at some level.

Reality TV is not real. Or is it?

Imagine the olden days before technology ruled the world. People still got frustrated, and a desire for accountability existed. Wars have always been engaged because we are on opposite sides. To infinity and beyond! We can keep slicing the pie into infinitesimal slices so we can say, “This is mine. You can’t have it!”

What happens? You end alone. It’s us four, and no more. With Noah, it was eight… But you get the picture. Before long, you’ll close the circle to just a few people. Is that where we thought we’d be?

I’m working hard to make an improvement around my world where I can challenge others to find accountability for themselves. I’ve unlocked my mind to find a larger circle of personal influence and accountability.

Question: Do you ever take the time to analyze your world? Your life? Your circle of influence? I’m curious if you can share with me your insight into personal accountability…

Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!