Winston Churchill is attributed with the quote for which this post is titled. He was the first to be granted honorary citizenship in the United States and is generally considered to be the greatest wartime leader of all time. Though difficult through its infancy, his determination to actively resist Hitler during World War II led to him be elected Prime Minister twice, and upon his death, Elizabeth II granting him a state funeral.
As much as I enjoy history, and the intricacies of the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II, it is not what this post is about. It’s about the trait that I admire most in both of these gentlemen, and the vanishing act it has played in our current culture: taking responsibility for ones actions.
* Quick side note about FDR*
He’s the only president to serve more than two terms (the longest serving president in history). Though I disagree with some of the political decisions he made, he was also responsible for leading the United States through The Great Depression, WWII and is generally accepted as the second greatest president in U.S. history behind only Abraham Lincoln.
Responsibility (accepting) is something that has not only become rare, but the lack of accountability has been encouraged and facilitated by many in leadership positions from government leaders down to parents and the children they raise. I’m not sure where I remember hearing it, but supposedly there are two rules to being a leader: 1) Accept responsibility for your actions, and 2) pass the buck.
Rather than accepting the consequences of our decisions, we’re told that our decisions are based on our environment, our genetic predisposition, or possibly even that the devil made you do it (possibly even God, if you want to really test those waters). Norman Geisler, in “Chosen But Free”, offers some extremely fascinating conclusions of this last idea.
If I am driving on the freeway where the speed limit is 55mph, and I’m proceeding with the flow of traffic at a speed of 65mph, what should I say when the police officer pulls me over and gives me a ticket for speeding? Though there are many excuses I could offer – I was simply going with the flow of traffic, I was in hurry to get to work, I was speeding to the ER with my pregnant wife – I must ultimately accept the consequences of my decisions. I need to weigh the possible outcomes and decide if the tradeoff is worth the price of a ticket. In the case of a rush to the emergency room, I gotta say it’s worth the tradeoff (after all, a ticket for speeding is still probably less than the cost of an ambulance ride).
God determines what is right and wrong. There is an actual morality outside of human definition or understanding. If there wasn’t, then no one would have a basis for saying any choice is morally wrong. This includes generally heinous acts such as rape, incest and murder. This is a little bit of a departure from where I wanted to go with this, but it’s a perfectly dove-tailed rabbit trail. 
I have two primary rules that I try to live by, and expect others to as well…maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable.
1) Don’t lie…even little white lies can lead to a breakdown in trust.
2) Take responsibility for your actions (this applies to decisions with both positive and negative outcomes)
Our society seems to have little problem in making quick decisions. It’s quite another thing when it comes to dealing with any negative consequences of those decisions.
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” – Winston Churchill
