Lynndie England is denying culpability in the Abu Ghraib POW abuse scandal.
"I was told to stand there, point thumbs up, look at the camera, take the picture" she said.
Of course she was. Of course she was only following orders. Lynndie is participating in the grand tradition of passing the buck, blaming others for our actions and misdeeds.
It seems that we have created quite an epedemic of this behaviour . From Presidents to paupers, Kings to commoners, we’re all doing it. We begin at an early age. My own children regularly try and place the blame on their siblings when they are caught in a wrongdoing. "He/she made me do it." I feel it my responsibility, as a parent, to encourage them to accept responsibility for their own actions, to be held accountable for what they did wrong.
However, that’s getting harder and harder to do. Every day we hear, see and read about people passing the buck and getting away with it. Al Quaeda blame Nick Berg’s execution on America....'if you had given us our prisoners we wouldn't have had to do it. You forced us, you made us do this. It's your fault.' Child molesters, rapists, murderers, all placing the blame for their actions squarely at someone elses feet... 'It’s because I wasn’t hugged/loved/treated well as a child. It's because my parents did the same thing to me. It's not my fault, it's the way I was raised.' Old ladies who spill hot coffee and burn themselves file suit against the company who brewed and sold the beverage...'Well, if they didn't make it so damn hot it wouldn't have happened'. The former governor of the state I live in, Bill Janklow, a once-staunch advocate of personal accountability tried to excuse his blatant disregard for the rules of the road which resulted in the death of a motorcyclist on his diabetes.....and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
How are we, as parents, supposed to teach our children to be responsible for their actions when they’re constantly bombarded with examples of people, not only ordinary people but people in positions of power and authority, NOT taking responsibility for theirs? Shouldn’t we be able to throw our hands up and say "It’s not my fault my kids don't have a sense of accountability. It's the media’s fault, the President’s fault, society’s fault’.
No, we shouldn't. I believe the only way we’re going to be able to break this cycle of blame is to start practicing what we preach and start holding ourselves accountable.
Change has to start somewhere. Where better a place to start than with me?