It takes courage to stop blaming and take responsibility.

I read this quote in an article that someone had posted on Facebook. I love it. How many of us can be completely honest today and admit to being wrong about something? How many of us can take the next step and actually apologize to the person for being wrong?

We have all had our moments whether on purpose or not of screwing up and hurting someone. Then, what?

I think that the people in our lives are a great reflection of who we are. If you aren’t sure of what you look like to the outside world, take a look at the people around you. Are they good people? Or are they the types that don’t take responsibility for their own lives where everything is always someone else’s fault?

I had a friend email me last night, apologizing for not being there in the past few weeks when I was going through a really hard time. This is a friend who has been there through some of the worst times in my life. This is a friend who was apologizing to me for not being there while she was going through a really hard time herself. I admire my friend a lot. She is an amazing person. And I admire her courage to stand up for her beliefs and do what she needed to do when she thought she was wrong. I don’t think she was wrong at all for taking some time out for herself while she dealt with her stuff but that’s a whole other story.

I think people don’t realize that having beliefs is acceptable. Standing up for your beliefs is also acceptable. I have done this time and time again. And there are times when I have stood up in a way that was completely unacceptable. I have had to go back and apologize for not treating someone correctly because I was passionate about something that they didn’t understand or agree with. It doesn’t change what I stand for but I want to be proud of the way I defend my beliefs.

How do we make the world a better place when we don’t have the courage to even look internally at our who we are and what we are doing? It’s scary sometimes to see the person staring back at you. The only thing we can really ever do is our best. We are all human and we are all going to make mistakes. And sometimes, those mistakes will hurt other people. But if we can take a look at what just happened and take responsibility, then that shows that we can learn and grow. I hope that is how we change our world to be a place to be proud of.