Amen!

[merchimerch]

"Victimhood is a position of powerlessness, while accountability is a position of power."

From this John Place article: http://johnplaceonline.com/stress-management/13-simple-words-that-could-change-your-life-forever/

Comments

[bay-bus-rider.livejournal.com]

Hmm... to be perfectly honest, I was kind of appalled by this article. The statement in itself is not completely incorrect, but I feel like it's often the kind of thing the bullies themselves would bring up. Do you think you could explain what you are getting from it—I feel like I might not completely understand.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

I suppose it is possible to read this article in terms of it saying that victims are really just asking for it, a sentiment that I of course find appalling.

My reading of it was more in the sense that bad things happen to people and in the end, it is their choice how they react to it. His personal story about being bullied seemed to say not that he was asking for it after the bullying started, but that he got into a victim mentality that made him easier to victimize. I suppose I think there is a semantic difference between saying victims are asking for it, and people who have a victim mentality are often more easily victimized.

Mostly I take this story to be a warning about how we react to circumstances--when something horrible happens it is really easy to give up power, control, and integrity. For him, at least, it took a mental shift toward a sense of accountability to get those things back.

I think we live in a culture that encourages us not to own up to our mistakes and the consequences of our attitudes and actions. The statement and the story seem to me to be telling folks to take a hard look at themselves and see how they themselves can occupy a position of power and prevent bad things to the best of their ability.

Like I said, that's just how I read it.