Owning up to personal mistakes is a difficult thing to do. It is so easy to see the wrongs of the person next to you. It’s shocking how quick we are to point fingers at our neighbours and leaders whenever there is something wrong in our society and nation. We even condemn the leaders we have and say that if they are changed we may get better, but the question is, who really needs to change?
Most people want to change the world but as the saying goes you cannot change the world without changing yourself.
Lack of a sense of responsibility in our people has cost us Zimbabweans and Africans a great deal. We do wrong and find something if not someone to blame it on. This is not to say our leaders do not have their own fair share of wrongs and damage that they have done. The issue is about what you are doing as an individual to change the world.
Personal responsibility is when an individual considers the consequences of their actions before acting or simply put it is when one owns up to their wrongs and is willing to face the consequences of their actions.
The reason why we have lots of crisis in the world is because of the avoidable that we did not avoid when we were supposed to do so. As Zimbabweans, we blame our leaders for the poor drainage system, high levels of corruption, dirty cities and etc.
And yet, it is you and l who throw trash anywhere, bribe the officials to accelerate certain processes or escape from certain consequences (greasing the wheel).
A responsible person will throw the trash in its rightful place and by doing that they make a difference. The difference starts with you as an individual. The economics of the environment is not so complicated; it only needs people who understand the benefits of doing the right thing and doing the right thing the right way (efficiency and effectiveness).
No one is going to create a corruption-free environment for you or to tidy the city on your behalf. If you want a corruption-free environment, stop practising it, in order to have clean city throw trash in its rightful place. It is simply a do it yourself product. The combined efforts are what then make us a strong country, great economy and a responsible people.
Ceteris-paribus, the summation of our responsibility levels will have a great impact on our tomorrow. As young people and entrepreneurs let’s not depend on the next person to do what you can. Do something yourself that can make the situation better. Let your action fail to make a difference after you have tried than not to try at all.
Even though no one may be watching you, if we act like we are being watched great is the difference we can achieve together.