Step up to the plate

I still remember my childhood fights with siblings. I was the middle child and had an older brother and younger sister. I remember how frustrated our parents would get with our fights, especially when they tried to get to the bottom of what had happened and who did what. Each of us pointed at another person and whined, "He started it" or "It's all her fault." None of us wanted to take responsibility.

When my sons were younger, I witnessed the same thing.

I've thought of that a lot in the years since my childhood and since raising my three sons. How easy it can be to point fingers at others or at a life situation or something else outside ourselves when life goes wrong. "If only I hadn't lost my job, I wouldn't have become so bitter." "If only he had loved me in return, my life would not have turned out so badly." "If only my parents hadn't done this to me, I would have turned out differently." It's really no different from "He started it" or "It's all her fault," is it?

What an opportunity it is, however, when you and I can step up to the plate and take responsibility for the things we do and the things that happen to us. It is then and only then that we have the possibility of learning and growing, of taking what is and making the best of it. Who knows what heights you and I can reach then?