Martyr

I was thinking the other day--about a lot of things that have been happening in my life--and it got me to thinking about blame.

I remember once, in a religion class in high school, the teacher mentioned that true maturity only exists once you take the blame when you've done something wrong. When I was younger, I hardly ever accepted blame--I always thought I was right.

I have matured. I now take the blame for things that I feel are my fault. I acknowledge. I say I'm sorry now. Being right is not important. Being good is. Acting justly is.

Perhaps I am still naive, but I find it shocking when people don't own up to their mistakes now. We are in (or nearing) our thirties. We are supposed to be learning from our mistakes. How can you learn from a mistake if you never think you make one?

I am an advocate of justice. When I analyze the things that I get angry about, it almost always breaks down to being angry at injustice. I despise racism, sexism, nepotism, favoritism, misogyny, dishonesty, cruelty, passivity, judgment, scapegoating.

And these things happen all the time. Every day. The last two have happened to me recently. I'm no martyr. But I don't know any either....