The Buck Stops Here

My sister and I have always been fundamentally different people. From early childhood to the present, we've had different views on just about everything. She's quiet and holds to a rigid set of laws of her own invention. I am very outspoken and go with whatever flow I want to.

She had her wedding already planned out by age 6 and regularly updates it to suit her current tastes and modern styles. If th3 Goofball and I ever tie the knot (or, knowing us, tie several knots together) he's planning it. If I have that sort of thing on my to do list, our wedding is going to be at the justice of the peace and a party of whoever happens to be available that day and sees the facebook post.

Once again, we've proven ourselves to be different.

As a college student, I don't have class on Friday. But my sister, who's still in high school does. So I was quite surprised to see her on the Internet when I eventually crawled out of my cave. She had woken up late and had some transportation problems - a friend that never materialized who was going to be her ride. Unfortunately, she never bothered to tell our parents.

And when teachers and similarly pro-education fathers are told that their offspring are skipping class, they tend to get angry. [This is bad.]

The main problem that was being had was that my sister never bothered to call anyone and notify them that there was a transportation problem. Not a phone call or text message to any of three adults with cars. My sister even went out to lunch with one of them - and came back home.

Throughout the subsequent argument my sister failed to agree that she had done anything wrong. She said that she thought that everyone was gone, so there was no point in notifying anyone. Obviously, my parents disagreed. The upshot was, as punishment for ditching, she wasn't allowed to sleep at a friend's house tonight.

I, too, was also in trouble for non-notification. But instead of firing back excuses - she's not my responsibility, I'm too sick, it's the codeine's fault, etc. - I just apoligized for not thinking the situation through and promised not to repeat my actions again. *Poof!* There was no problem.

Accepting responsibility for your actions, and apologizing for your mistakes seems to be a very obvious and simple way of resolving situations. Hostility is never rewarded - especially when the other side is already convinced of the correct viewpoint. And at the end of the day, is it really going to make a difference if you admit that you forgot to call? No - but if responsibility isn't accepted, then there will be much bigger consequences.

And this isn't only applicable to my family's domestic disturbances. Knowing when to accept responsibility for things that you legitimately did screw up is very important, especially when denial has severe repercussions. This doesn't mean that people should kowtow whenever any problem arises - if it really isn't your fault, then feel free to give hell. Just bear in mind that if hell is happening on a regular basis, then perhaps you have a responsibility to fix the air conditioner.

In short, don't buck the blame. It will only balloon other problems.