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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? 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.
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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