I believe
personal responsibility is taking responsibility for your actions and not
trying to put all the blame on someone else. Taking responsibility for your
actions means you have realized that you may have been wrong and you are
willing to own up to it. Most people do not want to own up to their actions but
in most situations, some of the responsibility falls on each person involved. I
am trying to take more responsibility for my actions now that I am older,
instead of blaming it on someone else.
I have tried to
pin the blame on others many times. When I was younger, if something broke in
my house I would tell my mom, “It’s not my fault, Nick told me to do it.” Now
that I’m older, though, I try to take responsibility for what I do. Last year, a
group of my friends and I were sitting in class talking. The teacher warned us
not to talk or we would get sent out. We stopped for a while but then went on
again. The teacher yelled at me and sent me down to the principal. I was not
the only one talking but I was the one who got caught and it was my fault. Another
completely different situation in which I did not take responsibility was my
grades. I got my grades back and they were not bad, but they were not great. My
mom looked at my report card and asked why my grades weren’t very good. Instead
of just taking accountability for not doing my homework and being lazy, I
blamed it on the classes. I told my mom my classes were hard and I did not get
the work. I knew it was my fault but I did not want to be in trouble for not
doing my work.
Taking the blame
for your actions are very important and something one needs to learn to do.
When I was younger, I did not want to get in trouble for breaking my mom’s items.
I would blame whoever I could just so I did not get in trouble. As I got older,
I have learned to take some responsibility though. I know when to talk and joke
around and when not to. No one forced me to talk and I cannot blame others for
not getting in trouble. I realized that I was talking no matter what and that I
should not complain that I was caught. I could have said, “Everyone else was
talking, why aren’t they in trouble?” but that is immature. There was absolutely no one I could blame for
my grades; I chose not to do my work and not to study so I basically chose my
own grades. It is better that I own up to my mistakes; it is the mature thing
to do.
