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| Borrowed from Obscure Star Wars Photos |
Oh, Han Solo, how we adore thee. Who could fail to love that dashing face and atrocious clothing? But I digress. Today we're discussing Han's favorite phrase:
It's Not My Fault
Back in 1977, the world laughed when Han uttered these words (repeatedly). The ship would break, bad things would happen, and Mr. Solo would adamantly insist that none of it was his fault. To be fair, most of it wasn't.
Today, "It's not my fault" seems to be running rampant in society. No one ever wants to take the blame for anything. "I can't get a job because of the economy", "It's the (choose the party you don't belong to)'s fault the country is messed up", "I blame my parents for the way I am" (Ok, so I use that one a lot). It's all about the blame game these days. Heck, even in mmos (massively multiplayer onlne roleplaying games), I see it everywhere. "We lost that match because the game was poorly designed/we were undergeared/everyone but me sucks." No one ever says "Wow, those guys were good."
So what's my point? I have two of them, actually. The first is we need to take responsibility for the things we do have control over. I'll use the government as an example: It's no one party's fault. We're all in this together. If it's ever going to work, it has to be a joint solution and everyone needs to put aside their inability to accept any part of the fault and start looking for a real answer to the problem.
Second, and the thing I most wanted to point out, is Sh*t Happens. Thank you Forrest Gump for that lovely smiley face to go with it. Sometimes, bad things happen. Sometimes things don't go as planned. And it's no one's fault. It just is. You can't do anything to change it. You can't stop it. You just have to deal with it. Trying to find a place to lay the blame does nothing but cause you stress and annoy those around you.
Suck it up, Buttercup.
Take it on the chin.
Roll with the punches.
Just deal with it.
I can't think of anymore fun cliches, but sometimes life is not going to hand you roses. Sometimes it'll just be a big pile of thorns, and maybe it's not your fault, but if you spend all your time trying to lay blame elsewhere, you'll get nowhere.
Have you noticed/been affected by the "blame game" mentality that seems to be sweeping the world these days? What is your favorite "Roll with the punches" cliche? Do you have any advice on how to do just that when things get tough?
My main coping mechanism is to try to underplay whatever's happening as much as possible. You know, like watching the building you just finished constructing blow up in a giant fireball and saying "well, that could have gone better." It's kind of lame, but it works.
ReplyDeleteOh so true! And it seems like when things go the worst and there really isn't anyone to blame, that's when we want someone to blame the most. It's like if we could blame someone then we feel like we can control the bad that happens rather than having to acknowledge that sometimes bad stuff happens and there's nothing we can do about it but push through.
ReplyDeleteI tend to do that for other people, Daniel, but I have a very hard time for myself. I'm great at finding the silver lining when it's not me who needs it. :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Marcy. The worse things are, the more we want to find fault. It makes it easier for some reason.