This week I took one of our cars in to be serviced at a local dealership and had a very interesting interaction with the service department.  When I dropped off my vehicle I was asked if I would like to receive a complimentary car wash upon completion of the service, to which I replied in the affirmative.  Then I was asked to sign a waiver of liability.  This document stated that by signing the document I was releasing the dealership of any liability related to any damage including but not limited to cracking of the windshield which may occur as the result of my complimentary car wash.  The document goes on to state that the dealership is not responsible for any lost or stolen articles that are left in the vehicle.  This interaction made me stop and reflect about the epidemic in our society of blaming and unwillingness to accept responsibility for anything including the personal circumstances of our lives.  To illustrate this point let me tell you a story as told by Brian Klemmer in his book titled, The Compassionate Samurai.  This is the story of a construction worker who begins work on a new job site.  On the first day when lunch time rolled around he retrieved an old, black, metal lunch box out of his truck and wandered over to where the other workers were eating lunch.  He opened the black metal lunch box and removed a sandwich.  As he did so he began to complain, "Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, again!  I don't like this kind of sandwich.  I wish I had something better."  He continued to grumble as he ate his lunch.  The next day his co-workers noticed again that when he removed his sandwich from his lunch box, he complained that he had yet ANOTHER peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  On the third day the construction worker repeated the same routine at lunch time and his co-workers began to talk about his seemingly odd behavior.  The next day one of the foreman asked him, "Why don't you just ask your wife to make you a turkey or even a roast beef sandwich for lunch?"  With a surprised look on his face the worker simply replied, "Wife?  What wife?  I'm not married.  I make my own lunch every morning before I come to work."

            How many of us make ourselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then complain as we eat them?  How often do we make choices in our lives and then blame someone else for the consequences of our choices?  Consciously or sub-consciously we may convince ourselves that our current life circumstances are our bosses fault, or because of the government, or because our spouses just don't understand us.  The potential list of people or situations to blame is endless. Yet in reality our current position in life, all of our circumstances and the state of all of our relationships, are the direct result of the culmination of ALL of the decisions that we have made up to this point in our lives.    
 
            The humorous modern day Zen story presented above beautifully illustrates an important attribute of an honorable warrior, the virtue of personal responsibility.  True warriors understand and accept responsibility for ALL of the choices that they make in life.  Unfortunately, this virtue is becoming ever more scarce in our society that is filled with selfishness, blaming, excuses and a sense of entitlement.  Our society seems to be filled with individuals who lack a sense of personal responsibility.  When problems arise or when mistakes are made they are very quick to blame others or the circumstances rather than accepting responsibility for their decisions, actions or words.  The only result of blaming others for their life circumstances is that it propagates a victim mentality which produces feelings of helplessness and despair.  The only solution for dealing with this negative mind set is to accept personal responsibility for everything in our lives.
 
            Honorable warriors are aware of their freedom to make choices and accept responsibility for all of their decisions, actions and words.  My challenge for you today is to see the world from the perspective of accepting complete responsibility for everything in our lives.  Blaming or complaining about the circumstances of our lives is unproductive and cowardly.  We should all strive to make courageous decisions, commit to our beliefs and accept full responsibility for all of the problems, difficulties, and failures along with all of our successes, accomplishments and blessings.