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Accountability And Offering Excuses For Excuses!

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Kammie Holder

Most of our problems in life tend to come about as a result of trying to evade being accountable. It appears like a disease in government, the private sector and in our personal lives, it`s just not an easy thing for some of us to accept accountability. Accountability means we are responsible and answerable for our actions or inactions, thus the consequences must be accepted. Managers and leaders must accept accountability for the actions of others in their organization or on their team, just as they accept praise when the team does well.

In order to be accountable, we must also embrace the fundamental principle of integrity. It’s not always easy to do the right things, but, we can save ourselves a whole lot of time and trouble if we invest a little more time to do things right the first time. In communications with the late Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson, he always reminded me to  “Do what I think I have to do and what is always right”. It’s also much more difficult to clean up a mess, than to just simply avoid it.

Personal strength is based on your character. Our character is inherently a by-product of our integrity and our sense of personal accountability as well as our socialization. When you use excuses to avoid being accountable you are actually trying to justify failure. Excuses do not change the results, they only band aid the cancer while gangrene sets in. You either achieved your desired results or you didn’t! In business it’s the same thing. We all have personal problem, but in the end your choice is to either to achieve your desired outcome no matter what or find ways to work through it. Is a lack of accountability the cause of excuses, mediocrity and complacency?

Most excuses proffered by people are indifferent rebuttals, caused by clumsiness, incompetence, tactlessness, thoughtlessness and laziness. We must always remember that few excuses get us out of trouble. The average excuse gets us only out of the fire, but into the frying pan. Unless people are held accountable we will continue to see more excuses and mediocre governance in the private and public sector as well as our personal lives, we just need to stop offering excuses for excuses, Finally, I wish to leave you with some quotes on excuses!

“Excuses are the tools with which persons with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing.” – Steven Grayhm

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them. –
George Bernard Shaw

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  1. Zoe Avatar
    Zoe

    Kammie, You have spoken the ‘core’ fundamental TRUTH, regarding why mankind is in the plight, the horrible mess, that we all find ourselves in, either to a greater or lesser extent, bar NONE!

    Almighty God in His Word, the Bible, gives us an account, narrative, of why and where, this began, when the first man, human- being was Created, Adam, who was given Free will, volitional choice, to either obey his Creator, and NEVER die, or the consequences he would suffer, if he disobeyed.

    What is extremely interesting here in Genesis, is the very thing you so well articulated above, re “Accountability And Offering Excuses For Excuses” as this is where Adam and Eve failed misreably, in NOT being honest, NOT being Accountable, for having CHOSEN, through Free will, to disobey God, their heavenly Father and Creator, they now found themselves naked, awarness of SIN, and estranged ‘spiritually’ from that close, intimate relationship and communion they had before, because of disobedience, the consequences of which, have followed every man and woman since that day, and just like Adam and Eve did when questioned by God, they PASSED-THE-BUCK, as Adam blamed God, instead of taking full *Accountability for having CHOSEN by Free will, to act differently to what God had already told them.

    Hear Adam when God, who knew omnisciently, what he had already done, but was obviously asking him so Adam would expose his NOW lying, sinful nature, instead of been accountable.

    “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was AFRAID because I was naked, and I hid myself. And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I COMMANDED you that you should NOT eat? Then the man said, (listen carefully!) The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (Gen. 3: 9-12) emphasis added.

    What a passer-of-the buck, instead of Adam taking full responsibility, accountability for having CHOSEN freely, to partake of the forbidden tree, he blames God, ‘…The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave ME of the tree, and I ate.” (v. 12b) emphasis added.

    This Kammie, is where it ALL begun, and as Adam ‘s SIN nature was passed on to ALL mankind, we are past-masters at passing the buck, blaming some one else, or the circumstances for our utter, disguisting failures, and this plight of SIN, permeates the entire human race, and the Lord Jesus Christ, had to come and die in our stead, pay the price for our Redemption, in order us to be forgiven, cleansed, and to be restored back into fellowship with our Creator, Almighty God, as there is NO other solution or remedy for our plight of SIN!

    The choice is OURS, as it was Adams!

  2. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    On the issue of responsibility, accountabilioty and excuses, note the Govenrment’s assertion on food prices and the come-back from the commerce industry.

    Note that 2.5% vat and slightly increased excise tax cannot rasie items by the manner in which some have been raised.

    People make excuses that ‘man, taxes going up’. Taxes may be going up, but the heavy increases seen in some items do not come from even 5% tax increase. Say, 5% on a ten dollar item is 50 cents, but the increases seen are way off that.

    Merchants in Barbados continue to make their money. I dont hold them grudges, because I can choose where to shop.

    That is why competition is good (although some items are brought in purely by agents who then send to all the retailers).

    That is why places such as Pricesmart and Shopsmart obviously put a dent in the oligopoly here.

    What we must encourage is more small market entrants i.e. importers who focus on a few select items each, as well as the small shops.

  3. Kammie Avatar
    Kammie

    I am a supporter of the DLP, however many would prefer not to be honest in my feedback but truth over deceit is my thing! Under the last administration the Ministry of Commerce started to print prices across supermarkets. On asking why this is not done recently, I was told its too expensive. Antigua, Trinidad and St Vincent does it.

    Minister Benn, please do the right thing and stop the fanciful talk and expedient rhetoric and help consumers to make choices by publishing prices across supermarkets chains.

    Hope you do don`t take this personal as you seem to take my suggestions as a personal attack.

  4. anthony Avatar
    anthony

    Don’t the majority of bajans have internet access now? Can’t they just publish the list online if they use the excuse it too expensive to print.

  5. sexy Avatar
    sexy

    Bare lazy ass thinkers in Barbados

  6. Monica Brown Jones Avatar
    Monica Brown Jones

    DLP crackheads want the Chinese and Israelis trained RBPF to crack those who would seek to peacefully protest. Jones you are the biggest jackass ever to grace the walls of parliament

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