Bottom Of The Well

OK, I’ll start out by saying that some people absolutely amaze me! When I was a young man trying to make my way in this world one of the first things I learned was that’s it’s OK to make a mistake. Really, it is! However, it’s NOT OK to try and blame someone else for your screw-up. Let’s face it, there’s no way anyone of us, man, woman or child, can go through life and not make a mistake. Hey, there was only one who walked the face of this earth and never made a mistake and they crucified him on the cross!

Now, when the time comes for your “big one” what are you going to do? How are you going to act? Are you going to cry and whine and say” It wasn’t my fault! It was not something I had control over. Don’t blame me!” or will you accept responsibility and say “It was me that screwed up. I made a mistake, I should have been more careful, the blame is mine”. Two entirely different responses that reflect two entirely different characters.

The first response of “it wasn’t me” is the typical “perfect” person who never screws up. Heck, they have probably never made a mistake in their whole life and probably never will. At least not one they will admit too! This person has no character what-so-ever and thinks they can walk on water too. They have not, and probably never will, figured out that nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, likes or respects a sleazeball who will not “man-up” when the time comes and always blames others for their screw-ups. Personally, that type of person makes my skin crawl and there is no way I could ever trust them.

The second response “I did it, I screwed up, I’m to blame” is someone who is comfortable in their place in this world and does not have a need to look perfect in the eyes of their fellow man. They show much character, integrity and honesty and freely accept responsibility for their actions. This is a person you can trust and respect. They are not looking for a scape goat, they admit their error and will work hard to make things right.

Look, I have made plenty of screw-ups in my life and will probably make a fare share more before it ends. Some of them have really been hard to swallow and I really wished someone else was to blame but NEVER have I tried to get out from under a screw-up and put the blame somewhere else. There were times when the screw-up made me sick just thinking about it but I always stood up and took my medicine. “I did it, no one else. It was my error, blame me, no one else. I am responsible!” These were words that were hard to speak sometimes, but none the less I accepted responsibility. I’ll share something with you, after I accepted responsibility for my mistake I always felt better afterward. I might have made a whopper of a screw up but I was able to keep my integrity and honor intact when I “maned-up”. Something else, there might have been a few who were pissed at me for the screw-up at first but I knew that would pass and they would respect me for taking responsibility and not trying to wiggle out from under it!

I’m sure you all know someone who “never makes a mistake”, regardless of how obvious it might be that they screwed-up. It’s always someone else who screwed up, not them! That seems to be the mentality of all of the hard-line Obama supporters! Regardless of how bad a president he is; how foolish he looks to the rest of the world; regardless of how far down he has brought this country; how many lives his policies have plunged into poverty; regardless of how blatantly corrupt he and his entire administration are; regardless of the fact that he is not a natural born American Citizen and should never have been in office in the first place; regardless of the open contempt and hatred he displays for this country, they can not and will not ever admit that they screwed-up and voted for him, not once but twice and they close their eyes to what’s really going on.

They know that he’s the worst thing that has ever happened to this country but they will never admit it because they voted for him and they have never make a mistake, at least they never admit to making a mistake, so they will continue to try and say he’s the “Great One” and they are great because they support him. He could drop his pants and take a dump in the middle of the busiest intersection in this country and they would swear that from that pile of crap domestic prosperity will grow. You might think I’m kidding but I happen to have a couple of those type who are relatives and they think that they are “the stuff”. To tell you the truth I fell sorry for them. It really must be hard to live in their skin. If only they could see how the rest of the world sees them I think they would try to find someplace to run away and hide. Sort of like Adam and Eve after they took a bite of the apple and and realized that GOD was in the garden and knew what they had done.

Something else I fell sorry for them about is the fact that it’s so hard to be them and live the “perfect life”. So hard that they spend countless hours every day trying to hide in a bottle. Deep down inside they really hate who they are and how they act and the corner they have backed their self into so every night, night after night they take refuge in a wine bottle or a beer bottle, drinking their miserable being into a drunken stupor so the pain they feel is dulled and they can pass out for a short while until the sun rises once more. They are hopelessly stuck and they see no way out, not if they have to say they made a mistake! Their only relief is to “pop another top and take another swig” and try too put everyone around them down so they can fell better about their miserable life.

I wish there was something I could do; someway I could help them but I know that the only one who can ever help them is them. The old saying “You can lead a horse too water but you can’t make it drink” also applies to people. Regardless of what you do or how much you try and help someone, the only one who can change the life you are living is you. The really sad thing is most people will not make the changes needed in their life until they hit rock bottom; until they have fallen so far that they are laying on the bottom of the well and the only way out is up. I know that there are a few among us who this rule does not apply too and that they pull their self up just before touching bottom and I take my hat off to you, unfortunately the vast majority of use have too hit the bottom before we can rebound.

So, what can we do too help? All we can do is pray for them and not hate them. Realize that they are just lost; just confused and not able to see through the fog that surrounds them and hope that soon, their day will come and their trip from the bottom of the well will begin.