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Kal'Stang

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Bonners Ferry ID USA
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Political Leaning
Independent
No, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about people in general.

Lately I have been reading quite a few posts where one poster or another says something to the effect of "X person made a mistake and now they should live with the consequences no matter what". Generally I agree with that sentimate. I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility. In my life I do not complain about about choices I have made, past or present. And I wish that others would do the same.

But as with anything else in this world there are exceptions. It is NOT just black and white. Its lots of grey. And not just grey either. But every color in the rainbow plus.

My question is, is that belief really a correct way/thing to think? Should the person have to pay their entire lives for one mistake? Or even a few mistakes? Now before you go hogwild and say "YES!" you should consider a few things. People are not equal. Some people have higher IQ's than other people. Some people have less medical conditions than others. Still others are more emotionally capable of handleing X position than other people. Some people are more athletic than others. And those are just the non-environmental examples.

Some environmental things could be in how a person was raised, what influences a person had in their lives (teachers, friends, neighbors etc etc), literal environment...IE suburbs vs city, vs gang territory vs boondocks, single parent vs two parent homes.

All of these things can affect whether a person will succeed in life or not. Yes, people can overcome some of these things. Particularly the environmental things. BUT....can they over come them in time to avoid certain mistakes? Like getting pregnant at age 16? Not paying good attention in school? Not graduating? Getting in trouble with the law? Well, again, I would say that is dependent on the non-environmental factors such as I stated above. A person with an IQ of 140 is probably going to figure it out quicker than a person with an IQ of 95. And for another example: A person raised in a good home with responsible parents will probably figure it out quicker than a person raised in an abusive or non-caring home.

So while all in all I do believe that people should take responsibility for their mistakes, I also believe that society should not be punishing or writing off people for their mistakes their entire lives. And I especially do not think that people should use themselves as being successful in avoiding certain mistakes when talking about other people. No two people live the same exact life and due to that such comparisons are a huge fallacy.
 
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No, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about people in general.

Lately I have been reading quite a few posts where one poster or another says something to the effect of "X person made a mistake and now they should live with the consequences no matter what". Generally I agree with that sentimate. I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility. In my life I do not complain about about choices I have made, past or present. And I wish that others would do the same.

But as with anything else in this world there are exceptions. It is NOT just black and white. Its lots of grey. And not just grey either. But every color in the rainbow plus.

My question is, is that belief really a correct way/thing to think? Should the person have to pay their entire lives for one mistake? Or even a few mistakes? Now before you go hogwild and say "YES!" you should consider a few things. People are not equal. Some people have higher IQ's than other people. Some people have less medical conditions than others. Still others are more emotionally capable of handleing X position than other people. Some people are more athletic than others. And those are just the non-environmental examples.

Some environmental things could be in how a person was raised, what influences a person had in their lives (teachers, friends, neighbors etc etc), literal environment...IE suburbs vs city, vs gang territory vs boondocks, single parent vs two parent homes.

All of these things can affect whether a person will succeed in life or not. Yes, people can overcome some of these things. Particularly the environmental things. BUT....can they over come them in time to avoid certain mistakes? Like getting pregnant at age 16? Not paying good attention in school? Graduating? Getting in trouble with the law? Well, again, I would say that is dependent on the non-environmental factors such as I stated above. A person with an IQ of 140 is probably going to figure it out quicker than a person with an IQ of 95. And for another example: A person raised in a good home with responsible parents will probably figure it out quicker than a person raised in an abusive home.

So while all in all I do believe that people should take responsibility for their mistakes, I also believe that society should not be punishing or writing off people for their mistakes their entire lives. And I especially do not think that people should use themselves as being successful in avoiding certain mistakes when talking about other people. No two people live the same exact life and due to that such comparisons are a huge fallacy.

Look at Judge Gregory Mathis' life story and come back to us. People have the ability to turn their lives around. They just have to be given an opportunity and, more importantly, have the desire. People in the United States do a pretty good job of giving people second chances. It's the third, fourth and fifth they have a problem with.
 
No, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about people in general.

Lately I have been reading quite a few posts where one poster or another says something to the effect of "X person made a mistake and now they should live with the consequences no matter what". Generally I agree with that sentimate. I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility. In my life I do not complain about about choices I have made, past or present. And I wish that others would do the same.

But as with anything else in this world there are exceptions. It is NOT just black and white. Its lots of grey. And not just grey either. But every color in the rainbow plus.

My question is, is that belief really a correct way/thing to think? Should the person have to pay their entire lives for one mistake? Or even a few mistakes? Now before you go hogwild and say "YES!" you should consider a few things. People are not equal. Some people have higher IQ's than other people. Some people have less medical conditions than others. Still others are more emotionally capable of handleing X position than other people. Some people are more athletic than others. And those are just the non-environmental examples.

Some environmental things could be in how a person was raised, what influences a person had in their lives (teachers, friends, neighbors etc etc), literal environment...IE suburbs vs city, vs gang territory vs boondocks, single parent vs two parent homes.

All of these things can affect whether a person will succeed in life or not. Yes, people can overcome some of these things. Particularly the environmental things. BUT....can they over come them in time to avoid certain mistakes? Like getting pregnant at age 16? Not paying good attention in school? Graduating? Getting in trouble with the law? Well, again, I would say that is dependent on the non-environmental factors such as I stated above. A person with an IQ of 140 is probably going to figure it out quicker than a person with an IQ of 95. And for another example: A person raised in a good home with responsible parents will probably figure it out quicker than a person raised in an abusive home.

So while all in all I do believe that people should take responsibility for their mistakes, I also believe that society should not be punishing or writing off people for their mistakes their entire lives. And I especially do not think that people should use themselves as being successful in avoiding certain mistakes when talking about other people. No two people live the same exact life and due to that such comparisons are a huge fallacy.

Morons tend to beget morons. One's life decisions are guided mostly by those that they closely interact with (family and friends). While your hero (role model?) may be a celebrity, sports star or some other public figure, which you have occasional exposure to, that makes little difference if you are surrounded by morons acking like, well, morons.
 
This is why I think President Clinton's one mistake should be forgotten and the better things he did should be more emphasized instead.
 
Look at Judge Gregory Mathis' life story and come back to us. People have the ability to turn their lives around. They just have to be given an opportunity and, more importantly, have the desire. People in the United States do a pretty good job of giving people second chances. It's the third, fourth and fifth they have a problem with.

Breifly read up on him...A few things here. Not everyone gets an opportunity handed to them like Mathis did with the family friend. And no one else is Mathis. While you didn't use yourself as an example you still pointed to a specific sucessful person. Its the same fallacy I mentioned before just with a slight twist.

And yes, I understand the whole "third, fourth, fifth" thing. But imo that to can be dependent on some of those non-environmental examples I gave with the added "is it the same mistake over and over?". A person can make lots of mistakes but never the same mistake twice.
 
No, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about people in general.

Lately I have been reading quite a few posts where one poster or another says something to the effect of "X person made a mistake and now they should live with the consequences no matter what". Generally I agree with that sentimate. I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility. In my life I do not complain about about choices I have made, past or present. And I wish that others would do the same.

But as with anything else in this world there are exceptions. It is NOT just black and white. Its lots of grey. And not just grey either. But every color in the rainbow plus.

My question is, is that belief really a correct way/thing to think? Should the person have to pay their entire lives for one mistake? Or even a few mistakes? Now before you go hogwild and say "YES!" you should consider a few things. People are not equal. Some people have higher IQ's than other people. Some people have less medical conditions than others. Still others are more emotionally capable of handleing X position than other people. Some people are more athletic than others. And those are just the non-environmental examples.

Some environmental things could be in how a person was raised, what influences a person had in their lives (teachers, friends, neighbors etc etc), literal environment...IE suburbs vs city, vs gang territory vs boondocks, single parent vs two parent homes.

All of these things can affect whether a person will succeed in life or not. Yes, people can overcome some of these things. Particularly the environmental things. BUT....can they over come them in time to avoid certain mistakes? Like getting pregnant at age 16? Not paying good attention in school? Not graduating? Getting in trouble with the law? Well, again, I would say that is dependent on the non-environmental factors such as I stated above. A person with an IQ of 140 is probably going to figure it out quicker than a person with an IQ of 95. And for another example: A person raised in a good home with responsible parents will probably figure it out quicker than a person raised in an abusive or non-caring home.

So while all in all I do believe that people should take responsibility for their mistakes, I also believe that society should not be punishing or writing off people for their mistakes their entire lives. And I especially do not think that people should use themselves as being successful in avoiding certain mistakes when talking about other people. No two people live the same exact life and due to that such comparisons are a huge fallacy.

First, it depends on the severity of the mistake.... and as with what Maggie said, how many times the mistake happened.

Second, how the mistake happened. If it was from ignorance (not knowing in the first place) or doing even though they knew better.

Personal responsibility is first and foremost.
 
Should a person have to suffer the consequences of their mistake for life? That's a good question and the answer is: "It depends on the nature of the mistake".

If you turn in your paper with 2+2=5 on it instead of 4, then you shouldn't be punished for the rest of your life for that. If you kill an old lady in cold blood to steal her meds, then you should be punished for the rest of your life and the rest of your life should be short, indeed.

If you turn your motorcycle the wrong way onto an exit ramp for the highway, you might pay the rest of your life for that, if you have a rest of your life at all.

Actions have consequences, whether the consequences are social or otherwise. The consequences may be good or they may be bad, but if they're your actions, they're your consequences and you really need to learn to accept them.
 
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