Short story: A parable for today. Self-responsibility
By emptychair
@innertalks (23734)
Australia
June 29, 2021 8:18pm CST
John was walking around his block, when he stubbed his foot on a raised lump of concrete, on the path.
He swore blue murder, as it hurt.
Then he blamed the council for this mishappenstance to him.
He kept walking, thinking no more about it, until he reached home again, and his wife asked him, how was his walk.
He had pleasure recounting the little incident of his nearly tripping over on the raised concrete edge of the footpath, and he took extra pleasure in his blaming of the hopeless council again too.
"They never do nothing,"
he said to his wife.
His wife smiled.
"You should be more watchful as you walk."
"Things are never perfect unless you make them perfect for yourself, by your seeing their imperfections, and acting accordingly."
John grimaced.
"Another lesson from his wife, a great armchair philosopher,"
he thought to himself.
"Another lesson despised, and not taken on board then,"
his wife mused to herself.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article belongs to the author of this piece.
Afterword:
We should be open to learning from whatever source it comes to us from, and not just continually blame others, and things, for what happens to us, in our lives.
We need to be more responsible for our own life, and accept responsibility for what happens in it, that we could have avoided, with a little more awareness, and self-observation.
Sometimes we trip ourselves up, by our own self-righteousness, as did John here.
6 people like this
4 responses
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
30 Jun 21
this pushes to our other discussion, the overall concept of being open.
we are open-minded.
but we define open-minded(s) limits making it truly just a bigger closed mind!
2 people like this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
30 Jun 21
Yes, I doubt if anyone is completely open-minded, as their minds would fall out of them onto others then too.....lol....
Voicing our own minds, gives the voicer as much pleasure as singing, or telling a good joke, at times.
We have too much attachment to our minds for it ever to open up completely.
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
1 Jul 21
@DocAndersen Yes, some of it is fear, as we cling on to what we know, whereas love can be somewhat of an unknown quantity for most of us, and we fear its all-encompassing deepness at times too.
Yes, I like your phrasing there.
We need to sink into God's love, and not try to tread the heavy waters of our own mind's hold on its quicksand of fear.
We need to sink into God's love, rather than sinking into our own fear.
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
1 Jul 21
@innertalks we are bound by the memories of what we were taught. we cling to them as if an overturned boat in an empty ocean. For there is nothing but us and that overturned boat. we cling to those ideas.
To be open minded we would have to let go of the boat, and sink into God's love.
2 people like this
@Nakitakona (59987)
• Philippines
30 Jun 21
Let's stop blaming or pointing an accusing finger for there are three fingers pointing at us.
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@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
30 Jun 21
Yes, my old Dad used to tell me that, and he told me to remember my thumb too, as it points up towards God, and we should bring him into our decisions too, with daily prayer.
@Nakitakona (59987)
• Philippines
30 Jun 21
@innertalks Amen. Another thing I remember a lesson from a clean sheet white paper with a small black dot at the center. By seeing it, nobody notices the vast of whiteness but the tiny dot. That's how fault-finder a person is.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
30 Jun 21
@Nakitakona Yes, that's a good illustration, and what Jesus Christ said in the bible is good to remember too.
{How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.}
From Saint Matthew's gospel, chapter 7, verses 4 and 5.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
1 Jul 21
Yes, if we don't accept some responsibility for our sins, we would not think to ask God for his forgiveness then either.
If we refuse to accept responsibility, we are not being graciously humble, but more arrogantly superior, even non-caring, and non-loving of life, ourselves, others, and of God too.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (28367)
• Singapore
30 Jun 21
Some tend to look for scapegoats for their own failures, deflecting blame from them.
I have also found some saying I told you so when they never did say it.
There is always an element of blame in ourselves unless it is beyond our control and we are at the mercy of others like when we are passengers.
I have learned a lot of lessons and try to not forget them too.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
30 Jun 21
Yes, most of us are afraid to own up, as the punishment from bosses, parents, or school teachers, might be onerous; far easier to blame something else, or pretend not to know about it at all.
I try to learn the first time too, but a couple of times, the exact same thing has repeated for me, so, I must not have learnt from the first instance, sufficiently fully enough.
@innertalks (23734)
• Australia
30 Jun 21
@Shiva49 Yes, generally, I would agree with that, but the non-learners do have a lot of fun with not-learning too, as they get a lot of pleasure in their life from their tirades, and blaming of others.
They are not interested in learning; their only interest is in their being a spanner in the works of life, and in the lives of others too.
@Shiva49 (28367)
• Singapore
30 Jun 21
@innertalks The earlier we learn from the hard knocks of life, the better it will be for us as we have time to recover from the setbacks.
And I am playing it safe now as my earning days are over.
I limit my activities too as the days go by.
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