#itwrong

We get things wrong. It must be accepted we make mistakes, often leading to wrong decisions for ourselves and around other people.

It’s not enough for us just to outline where we went wrong, we must apologise. Where others are relying on us to take a lead role, we must go that extra mile and apologise. We mustn’t avoid responsibility once we’ve made a mistake. The way we handle ourselves counts.

Where others look to us as role models, we must do what’s right. Explanations can’t and don’t act as an apology, an apology does. Perhaps this is where we’re going wrong. We often wait for others to accept and take responsibility for themselves, so that they’re accountable and yet we don’t find it easy doing it for ourselves.

When it comes to ourselves, we’re usually less willing to do the same. Perhaps that’s got something to do with cognitive dissonance, particularly when our sense of self becomes threatened. We could reduce that by accepting what we’ve done, but instead we go the distance, or until someone else backs down.

The world needs us to accept we get it wrong that we can apologise and that we can make things up to those we have wronged.