Yoinked from elessa

[djkitty]

"One thing I've learned this past year is that it's essential to take responsibility for your actions and your choices or you'll never be able to move forward in life. Keep blaming other people for things, feeling as if you're a constant victim and you'll just dig yourself into a hole." - Amanda Grosvenor

Comments

[ravendragonwing]

Very wise words....although sometimes we are not given a choice, but must pay for the actions.

[djkitty]

That's where I disagree. We always have a choice. It may not seem that way because some of the options seem near impossible or not feasible, but the choice to undertake them is there. A lot of times, we discount them because of the difficulty, timing or inconvenience. Once we start saying "Oh, I had no choice", we are falling back into the habit of relinquishing responsibility.

[ravendragonwing]

And I disagree. If a woman was to be raped and given a STD, is that her choice? To be raped and given a possibly incurable STD, I hope not. But she must now pay for the actions of another.

[djkitty]

Okay, that's true. But I don't think that quote was talking about situations like those. But taking your example, that woman now has a choice. She can wallow in the tragedy of what has happened, letting it consume her and alienate everyone around her because she builds walls/pushes people away/lashes out at them/whatever else. Or she can try to continue on with her life, treating the STD, seeking therapy and counseling and try to move fwd with her life, unafraid or victimized.

[djkitty]

That should read "unafraid and un-victimized".