“What lies behind us and what lies before are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” O. W. Holmes. Every day each of us moves into another day of our future regardless of whether that tomorrow is filled with blessings, curses, or stuff somewhere in the middle. One of my favorite lines from one of John Denver’s songs is, “some days are diamonds, and some days are stone.” Each day our present behaviors, actions, choices, and decisions contribute in some way to the quality of our tomorrows and yes, the memories of yesterday. Who we are, what we have, what we do, and what and who we will depend on three simple facts. 1)You are you and you have the ability, skill, right, and freedom to learn, grow, change and adapt or stay stuck. 2) You can only become what is inside of you whether skills, attitudes, memories, fears, hopes dreams, etc. 3) The world is constantly changing, and you can adapt, adjust, modify, or watch the world pass you by.
“I will not surrender responsibility for my life and my actions.” John Powell. I believe that one of the most important life traits, responsibility seems to be fading as important in today’s world. I’m not referring here to any age group, gender, race, or religion but humanity in general. One of the traits that I believe helped build this country into what it has become is responsibility. Maybe it’s just me cause I’m getting to be an old guy but as I look back over the years and then compare the past to the present, well I’m disappointed with the loss of this trait. Life owes us nothing. Our parents gave us life and raised us – after that they owe us nothing. You have a job or career, and your boss owes you nothing other than what you earn. And please, don’t expect anything from politicians unless they want something in return for what they give you. I am not an angry, pessimistic, etc. person but I believe in personal responsibility for our actions, our choices, our behaviors, our attitudes, etc. When we turn any or all of these over to anyone or anything in our environment, well, we lose us, we lose who we are, we lose our freedom to be, to think, to feel, to learn, to grow, and to just live. The price is, has been, and always will be too high if we chose to surrender our “us” to others.