Personal Responsibility In The 90’s
By Mike DeBault

Let’s see if I understand the state of personal responsibility in the United States of America of the 1990s.

1 If a woman burns her thighs on the hot coffee she was holding in her lap while driving, she blames the restaurant.

2 If your teen-age son kills himself, you blame the rock ‘n’ roll musician he liked.

3 If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer your family blames the tobacco company.

4 If your daughter gets pregnant by the football captain you blame the school for poor sex education.

5 If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, you blame the bartender.

6 If your cousin gets AIDS because the needle he used to shoot heroin was dirty, you blame the government for not providing clean ones.

7 If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.

8 And, if your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.

God bless America, land of the free, home of the blame.

This article “Personal Responsibility In The 90’s” written by Mike DeBault is excerpted from Letters To The Editor 1998.