Let’s Take Responsibility For Our Destiny

MY piece this week is inspired by a sermon delivered by a clergyman last Sunday which centred around taking responsibility.

Pastor Gareth Stead of His People spoke about responsibility – a subject I have touched on in the past.
He said many of us blame others for the situation and circumstances in which we find ourselves but that it was time we accept responsibility ourselves. He pointed out four levels of responsibility:
1) Stuck – you are stuck and refuse to take responsibility
2) Grow – you take ownership and take the challenge head-on
3) Lead – you take responsibility for the situation you and others are in with the view to change it
4) Blame – when you take the blame for everyone else and lead them to change.
For years now, we have blamed everyone else but ourselves for a lot of things we have gone through. We blame the ‘boers’ for our education system, ‘imperialists’ for our poverty and our employers for lack of motivation at work!
As Pastor Stead said: the whites blame the blacks and the blacks (blame) the whites. The coloureds blame the whites on Friday and blacks on Monday. There is always someone else to blame.
I have said it before and I repeat again. Even President Hifikepunye Pohamba, as powerful as he constitutionally is, blames others and keeps complaining when instead he needs to assume leadership and to give serious and stern orders. If you disagree, read his statement at the first Cabinet session or the one he delivered this week when he opened the new session of Parliament. In both cases he spoke of responsibility but sounded like he was begging.
For instance, this week he used words such as “urge” and “encourage” when he spoke about the responsibility of the members of parliament towards the electorate as well as accountability for their work instead of telling the lawmakers that they “must”. It must be an order and there should be timelines to monitor such orders.
If President Pohamba does not stamp his authority on issues and decisions, no one will take him seriously because he is also not taking responsibility and is just a ‘people pleaser’.
Similarly, in our society today almost everyone blames one or the other thing, but seldom takes responsibility themselves. Even the rapist blames his hormones, as Pastor Stead said.
I believe we have long blamed others instead of taking charge of our destiny.
Someone who failed grade 12 at the end of last year is probably 18 to 19 years old now. That person can use the next one to two years to improve the marks and still be able to enrol for tertiary or vocational education and finished it by the age 25.
If such a person lives until the age of 65, he or she will have been productive for at least 35 to 40 years.
However, if the person drops out, stays and ‘rots’ at home and only blames the system, such a person will be unproductive for around 40 years, which is two-thirds of his or her life. Who is to blame for that?
What I mean with the above example is that no matter what happens to you, it is not what happens that really matters but how you respond to it in terms of positivity and turning things around.
There are many examples one can point to but the most important message here is that we need to take charge of our lives and destiny.
Stop the blame game because it helps no one. Instead it is detrimental to our progress and takes up too much of our energy.
I believe that if we are not moving forward, the only thing stopping us is ourselves!