Accountability

Hello again Grandchildren!

This month I have decided to talk about the character trait of "Accountability". This trait is a little hard to describe so I will be using a few examples to help you understand what I think accountability means. First I will put in the definition below - and we will go from there.

Accountability Defined - According to Grandpa

Accountability is: "An obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions, including your words and your thoughts."

I believe being accountable is a great character trait to have in your life. It is not always easy to take full responsibility for your thoughts, words, and actions, but it is always the right thing to do. The best path of accountability is to be "willing" to be accountable. You are normally not forced by someone else to be accountable. You want to be the type of person who willingly accepts full responsibility for your thoughts, words, and actions. This is a person of integrity (which characteristic I will share with you later, but you know integrity is one of Grandpa's top character traits.) You can always trust an accountable person to tell the truth about what they said or did. They will not lie. 

A person who is accountable will make sure they don't say or do things that they will not willingly be held accountable for. This type of attitude helps you avoid doing things you probably should not do.

Who are you accountable to?

Yourself, Your Parents, Your Teachers, Your Community, The Law, To God.

Initially, accountability should be taught by your parents when you are young. Ironically, they are accountable to teach you how to be accountable. When you get older, it is your own responsibility to learn how to be accountable for your thoughts, words, and actions.

Here are a few minor examples of being accountable that might apply to you.

• Your Mom asks, "who took that last cookie that I said I wanted?". You willingly say "I did", no matter what the consequences. You will not take the cookie unless you are willing to say you did.
• You pushed your brother or sister when you were mad. They start crying and say that you pushed them. A person who is accountable will say "Yes, I pushed them." They will say it immediately when asked. In fact, they should be willing to go up to their parents and say, "I pushed my brother or sister because I was mad." This is being accountable for your actions, no matter what the consequences are. (Hopefully you will learn not to get mad because you don't want to have to say that you pushed your brother or sister.)
• You took more than your share of the ice cream. Someone said you did. You should say, "yes, I did". And by the way, stop making up a bunch of excuses for why you did something. It is embarrassing. Some people like to have a "victim mentality" (another trait I need to define later) and think that there was a really good reason for them to take more ice cream because they need it more than anyone else.... "bah, humbug!"
• You knew your parents didn't want you to do something, but you did it anyway. They asked you if you did it. The "accountable you" says, "Yes, I did it.
• You work everyday to keep your room clean. You get a treat if you do it. Your parents ask you if you did it (and you really did), then you say, "Yes, I did it". Then you are happy and so are they. They get you a nice Culver Concrete Mixer custard treat. Yummmmmm!

When you do things that you should not have done, and you respond with a willing accountable answer, it would be a good idea not do that type of thing again. You would not be a smart person. You should also say, "I am sorry" to those you are accountable to. It is a sign of regret and respect. If you have no regrets for your irresponsible words or actions, you need to have a good sit-down talk with me.

Examples of Accountability

Jenny and Grandma Chambers Christmas Tree Ornaments

When Jenny was pretty young, maybe 4 years old, we were having Christmas with Grammy's parents at their house. There were a couple of times Grandma Chambers went into the living room where the Christmas tree was and saw that next to the Christmas tree, by the fireplace, there were broken pieces of ornaments.

Grandma Chambers asked Grammy who was breaking the Christmas ornaments. Grammy asked Jenny if she knew what was happening. Jenny took them into the living room, went over to the Christmas tree, grabbed an ornament and threw it at the fireplace. She turned and said, "Yes, doesn't that look so pretty?".  Jenny was accountable, even though she may not have known she was being accountable. Jenny was asked to stop throwing them and she did stop. (Grammy and Grandma Chambers laughed a little because it did look pretty when the ornaments glittered in breaking by the fireplace.)

My "F" in College

I had a business writing class at Idaho State University that started at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. This was the same semester that Grammy was going to have a baby (little Lacey). I had to take Grammy to work that also started at 8:00. For many days and weeks, Grammy would get sick at about 7:45 a.m.  I would walk into class late all the time.

The teacher didn't like it and told me that I should drop the class. I said I needed the class and that I would try to be on time more often. We passed the time when I could drop the class and I kept coming in late. The teacher finally said, if you are late one more day I will give you a grade of "F" in this class. Guess, what, the next day I took Grammy to the hospital to have Lacey and I didn't even make it to class. My teacher told me she didn't care and she gave me an F for that semester and told me to come back next semester. Even though I did all the required work and assignments to pass the class. It was frustrating.

I re-took the class the next Semester because I needed that class and she was the only one who taught it. She gave me an "A" that semester. She told me, "See, you should have just dropped the class like I told you to." I believe my teacher did the right thing and held me accountable for my actions, no matter what the circumstances were. I must say I didn't like the teacher very much, but I did respect her for keeping her word.

Me riding a horse bareback - that wasn't a good idea either.

Grammy's Accident

Grammy was driving with Jenny when Jenny was just learning to drive. Grammy was asking Jenny about different scenarios (ask your parents what that means) describing what she should do if a certain thing happened while driving. One of the scenarios was as follows: "What should you do if you hit someone's mailbox late at night?". Grammy was telling Jenny that even if it is late at night, you should go knock on the door and let them know. (This is being accountable for your actions).

As Grammy is finishing the conversation with Jenny, Grammy backed into a mailbox. Jenny asked Grammy, "What are you going to do Mom?" (with a big smile on her face - and Jenny was probably laughing too). Grammy parked the car and went up and knocked on the door. The man opened the door, Grammy explained what she did. The man first thanked Grammy for coming to the door to let him know. He said his mailbox got hit a lot, since it was in a bad spot. It had been hit many times before but no one stopped to tell him. (In other words, they did not hold themselves accountable for their actions.) Grammy was the first one to tell him. He went out and looked at it with Grammy and said she didn't have to pay for anything since he already had the materials to fix it. He was very nice about it. He just seemed happy that someone had come to tell him what happened. This doesn't always happen when you are accountable, but it is the right thing to do.

Grammy riding a horse. This is a better idea.

Sorry, I could not help putting two pictures of us on horses. It seemed a bit odd that I would find them so easily. Here are a couple of other fun family pictures, just because.