Accountability for our actions is becoming nonexistent.
It’s the chief’s fault we have not had a raise in two years! The school district is responsible for the increase of school violence! If you would have gotten here faster our house would still be standing! Turn on the TV, at work, in the grocery line, home, friends, everywhere we are surrounded by the “blamers.” One of our favorite pastimes has become seeking externally people or things to blame when things go wrong.
Fire service accountability. During incidents, lack of an accountability system is listed as a contributing factor in NIOSH line-of-duty death reports. Accountability for our actions is becoming nonexistent.
Can the comparison trap be partial to blame? We have the need to compare our status with others. We have a need for a sense of identity, and we do this through social comparison. Women look at their friend’s wedding rings and compare. Men drive cars that make them feel superior to others with inferior cars. If we can position ourselves higher in the pecking order of our circle of friends or at work, we can feel more valued or important. It makes us feel more in control. If we fail to achieve a position or place, we find reasons or others to blame.
Humans are “meaning-making” machines. We need to find the meaning behind the cause, even when it discredits others or is the easy way out, to be a blamer.
A quick fix to avoid accountability is to blame others so we can move attention away from ourselves and more because we specifically want to attack others.
It is also important for humans to know why things happen. If we know why something has happened, we might be able to predict whether it will happen again and prevent it or foster it. Does “if it’s predictable it’s preventable” from Gordon Graham sound familiar?
Many of us can find plenty of examples of blame right in our own homes. Someone must be responsible when the checkbook does not balance, vacation plans implode or the plumbing leaks. Accepting that things happen in life is a good start. Understanding in life we have highs, and we have lows. Take the lows as an opportunity to learn and grow.
In closing – take accountability for your own feelings and actions and stop blaming others for the things that go wrong in your life. Understand that as an adult, your happiness and your emotions are only your accountability, and you need to take accountability for them. It is really that simple!
Sam DiGiovanna is a 35 – year fire service veteran. He started with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, served as Fire Chief at the Monrovia Fire Department, and currently serves as Chief at the Verdugo Fire Academy in Glendale. He also is a Senior Consultant for Cordico www.Cordico.com & Lexipol www.Lexipol.com