Erecting a Virtual Statue of Responsibility

In some sense the "Occupy" and perhaps to a small extent, the Tea Party movement, call for a halt to corruption, waste, and fraud, a call for accountability and responsibility. The emphasis with Occupy is on the lack of corporate accountability and corruption, and the Tea Party emphasizes government waste and corruption as well as individual welfare fraud. And then there are the revolving doors which have colluded government and corporate interests.

If we take the time to look deeply and honestly in our collective mirror, there is some complicity, greed, and corruption of principles to be found in all of us. It may not be cultivated and allowed to grow the way it has in the extreme examples shown on the news. How many of us lead truly authentic lives, true to ourselves? "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." said Wendell Phillips. He understood that this wasn't a self-congratulatory once-a-year review of our institutions, corporations, and ourselves, but has to be a constant, consistent, and sincere practice of maturation, individually, as well as collectively. Unless we all intentionally and consciously commit to take responsibility and accept personal responsibility for our own and our institutions actions, we just end up falling prey to the seductive quicksands of individual, as well as institutional corruption creep.

Freedom without also emphasizing responsibility is not working so well. Victor Frankl and others understood this, and thought that the Statue of Liberty should be accompanied with a statue of Responsibility on the West Coast. Please join this "Virtual Statue of Responsibility" Facebook page if you wish to show support and make a commitment yourself to live the message you wish to see in the world.