Personal Responsibility
“What has become clear to me over the years, as I have witnessed the transformation of our society into one based upon victims rather than heroes, is that there is a more positive message to be gained from adversity: success (as well as failure) is the result of one’s own talents, morals, decisions, and actions.
Accepting personal responsibility for victory as well as for defeat is as liberating and empowering, as it is unpopular today. Overcoming adversity not only gives us our measure as individuals, but it also reinforces those basic principles and rules without which a society based upon freedom and liberty cannot function.
In those years of my youth, there was a deep appreciation of heroes and heroic virtue. Art, literature, and even popular culture (unlike today) often focused on people who demonstrated heroic virtues: courage, persistence, discipline, hard work, humility, triumph in the face of adversity, just to mention a few. These building blocks of self-reliance were replicated and reinforced at home, school, and church.”
- U.S. Supreme Court Judge, Clarence Thomas (1999). “Personal Responsibility” Read more at: https://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/student_life/studentorgs/lawreview/docs/issues/v12n2/12RegentULRev317.pdf
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