Accountability is one of the corner stones for children as they grow. Last night, I was reminded of this as I walked the school hallways for an interview for my job.

I was so amused, enlightened and joyed to see the fabulous student’s art work on display.  It was bright, cheerful and optimistic. I smiled as I looked upon it.

Then, the principal told me, “We only display art work in the month of May. All other months, the students are only allowed to display classwork.”

Being an artist, this saddened me a bit. I am surround by art work all day and night. Art is what brings humans to life and separates us from animals.

I listened to the principal reason, “We want children to be proud of what the accomplish in their work. Their classwork will be on display outside of the classroom for the whole school to see.”

I slept on the interview last night and thought about all the key elements this wonderful leader spoke of. It occurred to me,  this is another form of accountability. As a parent, I used to make my child accountable for all his achievements. I always posted the papers on the refrigerator. When my son would bomb a spelling test, math test or history test, I would sit with him and find the right answers to each wrong. I never made it a punishment. Instead, this was a joint endeavor on both of us to be accountable for not knowing something we should know. Believe it or not, I miss those days.

Now, as an adult, I have never taken any type of accountability such as this in my own life. If I gained weight, I would pull out the fat pants or buy some bigger ones. If I made an ass of myself, I would just crack it up to be a bad day. I am a rather courteous and kind hearted person, so I have not had much trouble in my everyday life.

My problem is, my achievements of success in life. I can proudly say, I am a failure. I have tried many great things and have fallen flat on my face. I get back up and try again, or so I think I have. Recently, I have analyzed my pattern of behavior of going from good to great only to discover that I have created 1,000 excuses, ok more like a billion of excuses for not becoming a great writer.

Why do I fail to be accountable for my incapacity to become a great writer?

Why do I listen to the critics, but opt to try something new instead of correcting my mistakes in proposed writings?

I am just going to throw this out here to the web.  For all of you to see and maybe you have a thought on why I have lacked accountability in my own success.

 

Perplexed,

JCV