2010 Soap Box Archives

Personal Responsibility

I recently heard about a woman who Googled a map on her cell phone and was following it, walking down a road when she was hit by a car, which probably means that she was paying more attention to her cell phone than she was to the oncoming traffic.

The upshot of the whole thing was that she wanted to sue Google for not informing her on the map she was reading that there were no sidewalks on the road.

Has the human race fallen so far that we can't even take the responsibility for what our eyes see and practice a little situational awareness? If you're on a road with no sidewalks and don't have the good sense to stay out of the way of traffic you shouldn't even come out of your house.

The point I'm making is that there is a pervasive and growing perception in this country that everything that happens to us is somebody else's fault.

Generations of people have fallen prey to the government entitlement programs. They depend on the government for everything and we saw the results of such dependence when Katrina hit New Orleans.

Self-reliance and self-responsibility are the cornerstone for a successful life that begins with the smallest of things like always being on time for work or appointments.

I just can't handle someone being late. If I have an appointment with someone and they're late, they're apt to find me in a bad mood when they arrive because I feel that person, by being late, is informing me that their time is much more important than mine and that I should be willing to waste mine by waiting around on them.
There are a few valid reasons for being late but most tardiness is caused by sloth, carelessness and poor planning.

Hitting a snooze button or somehow otherwise uselessly delaying getting up and getting ready to go to work or to an appointment is a sign of weakness and one, if you have it, you really should do something about.

In the early days, I had trouble with musicians being on time for departures. Everybody else would be sitting on the bus waiting for one individual who was partying too hard or just being slow in getting ready to leave.

The answer to that problem turned out to be simple. If the offending party was over fifteen minutes late, I'd have the road manager leave some money at the hotel desk for them and we'd just simply pull out and leave them. It doesn't take but a time or two of letting somebody have the responsibility of getting themselves to the next gig to cure that person.

The only way to succeed in this world is to take responsibility for your own life.

Pragmatism, practicality, accepting reality and dealing with your own problem, calling your own shots and taking responsibility for the quality of everything you do is what makes you worth something in the job market, as a citizen, as a parent and as head of a family.

I have absolutely no use for a man who does not do everything in his power to take care of his family. Children do not ask to be brought into the world but when you bring one into the world it is your sacred responsibility to care for that child until they're old enough to take care of themselves.

A man who runs out on his family is a sorry excuse for a human being in my book and is a prime example of shirking personal responsibility.

There are enough things in this life over which we have no control. We can't make it rain on thirsty crops, turn the outside temperature up or down or otherwise do anything about it occasionally raining on our parade, but we can dress accordingly.

If you can't get what you want, take what you can get and make what you want out of it. If life hands you a rough piece of wood, sand off the splinters and get on with the building. If you pick up an out of tune instrument, tune it and get on with the music. Lemons to lemonade. Adversity to opportunity.

It's easy to blame all your shortcomings on somebody else but if you want to identify the culprit who is responsible for the lion's share of your problems look in the mirror.

Take responsibility for your own actions; don't fall into the habit of blaming everything on somebody else.

Are you listening President Obama?

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, and for our country.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

©Copyright The Charlie Daniels Band