Responsibility. It is an unique concept ... by H. G. Rickover

Posted by Doug_Huffman 3 years, 9 months ago to Politics
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Responsibility is an unique concept; it may only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you. You may disclaim it, but you cannot divest yourself of it. Even if you do not recognize it or admit its presence, you cannot escape it. If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, ignorance, or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.”

The first sentence’s an is telling. The Admiral was a pedant and meticulous in all things. The article an precedes all vowels and some consonants, H.


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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 3 years, 9 months ago
    I've always looked at taking responsibility as the ability to respond differently, whether it be before an action takes place or after an action took place, to make something right or to vow to not make a particular mis-take in the future.

    Yes, it's an amazing concept and the conscious act of responding differently, beyond physical survival, is uniquely human.
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  • Posted by 3 years, 9 months ago
    In my career, when something went awry we had to evaluate the event as a potential ‘incident’. All the involved parties sat around a green baize table in a smoke filled room, and tried to avoid culpability. The finger of fate started on the left and went around the table, and if not stopped, rested heavily on the engineer’s shoulders. In my office the punishment was to have to prepare the incident report to upper management and that could take months of re-writes. Never me, thank goodness.
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