18/09/2024
Accountability 101
Growing up, I learned that accountability doesn’t come with age. In this life, you’ll meet a lot of people who seem to be at the right age but aren’t aware of accountability. People who only care about a problem when it already affects them. People who, among all, are expected to be mature enough to admit their mistakes and do something about it but do otherwise. In life you’ll meet adults who will hold you accountable for their own lapses. And sometimes you have to bear with that.
Because accountability doesn’t come with age, it comes with empathy. The ability to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and look at life from where they’re standing. Accountability comes from empathy because empathy makes you see how your carelessness will affect others. So instead of just sitting comfortably, unbothered by the chaos you know you played a part in, you stop making excuses for yourself and face your truth. You stop trying to negotiate that your intention was good and the outcome wasn’t what you wanted. When you have empathy, you learn to take accountability over the consequences of your actions regardless of your intention.
Everyone, at a certain age, learns the ability to see through situations. But not everyone learns to see through the different sides of a single situation.
—Ali
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