Saturday, June 25, 2011

Upbringing vs.Personal Responsibility

A new singer candidate for my choir: "I regret stopping piano, but my parents didn't make me practice". Hey, that's my line, but I don't buy it anymore. It's so much easier to blame someone else or find excuses than acting upon something we consider important.

I hear adults in their 50 and 60s blaming or praising their parents/teachers/siblings for the way their lives turned out and I can't stop wondering where is that elusive boundary between upbringing and the choices we make. Unlike canned food, upbringing doesn't come with an expiry date. Its impact diminishes with time, making room for personal responsibility. Or does it?



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely! I'm sick of this, too! Whatever happened in your childhood, well... you're an adult now. You can make choices about what you do, eat, study, etc.

Yoni said...

Its impact should, but doesn't always, for the simple reason that life doesn't always operate by the rules we think it should.

It depends partly on what the childhood experiences were, and individual character and personality.

Personal responsibility is a great slogan for a bumper sticker, but to quote two old Middle Eastern proverbs

Kama tadun tudana (as you judge, so will you be judged)

Al tadun et haverha ad shtaamod bimkomo