Blogger Dark Star spouts off today in an entry titled State of the Black Union: Accountability Ladder. The top of the entry was about four “ladder rungs” of unaccountability and four ladder rungs of accountability. The ladder metaphor certainly reminds me of the stage-wise nature of climbing the Responsibility Process™. I’ll let you go read the blog entry for yourself. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Here’s the comment I left there.

Nicely put—at least down through the story about Bruce Gordon. Thanks for relaying a story about someone—anyone—teaching about responsibility and accountability instead of placing themselves in the righteous position of saying who is and who isn’t taking it, which in itself is an act of blame, one of your rungs of unaccountability.

The truth is that we all act in ways everyday that fit both of your ladders, the top one and the bottom one. Unfortunately, reporting on unaccountability sells more news, and that perpetuates the cycle.

If you are drawn to the power of those rungs, you might be interested in some significant research that explains the mental process by which people do or don’t own problems in their (our) lives. You’ll notice these themes of unaccountability and accountability in the Responsibility Process™ and in the Keys to Responsibility™. You can read about this research here (http://www.christopheravery.com/concept.htm)

I’d appreciate your comments. I’m willing to take responsibility for redefining the way we talk about personal responsibility in our world. I hope you will join me.