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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 159821" data-attributes="member: 143">An interesting thread on an issue I've been grappling with for a while... thanks guys for some insightful commentary.Just this morning there was an article in my local paper about a guy who was bicycling and hit not once, but three times by cars.  When the medics found him he was partially covered by a blanket, but no one had stopped to seek help--those who had hit him had left him to die. Someone mentioned the book _Bowling Alone_, which discusses a point raised by an earlier poster, the breakdown in civic participation and community in America in recent decades.  It seems to me that the success of boards like this one is the search for people for that sense of community, the connection that so many are lacking with those around them.  Others made comments on another important issue, the issue of holding people accountable for their actions vs. blaming whatever happened to them in their past.  I consider myself a liberal and believe that as a society we need to address the root causes of problems rather than just deal with their effects (i.e. spend more on education, preventative health care, jobs programs, etc.).  That said, I think that there's too much of a culture of "it's not my fault" that people use to justify either bad behavior or bad results in their lives.  I do believe people need to be held responsible for their CHOICES, including the way they choose to act.  There was an ER episode, of all things, where Dr. Ross is blasting into his dad for the horrible way he was raised, and all the emotional problems he has as a result, and the dad replies, "Yeah, maybe I was a rotten father, but you're a grown-up now, and I'm not responsible for how you live your life now."Anyway, thanks again for another great discussion.LB</blockquote>

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