Personal responsibility

I read John Schmid’s series “A time to heal” with great interest, waiting to see what questions he was going to ask and what points he was going to make and how all of this was going to lead to solutions in making Milwaukee a great city once again.

Well, he did make some good points and did ask some interesting questions, but in the end, I felt a little let down by the conclusion or lack thereof.

As I read this series, I kept waiting for something that, in the end, did not come. As always, there is plenty of finger-pointing as to why problems have occurred or why people find themselves in a particular situation, but it’s always his fault, or their fault, or society’s fault, but none of this gets to the heart of the problem or gets us on track to finding a solution.

What I was waiting to hear and did not, were the words “personal responsibility.” These two words should have been the answer to many of the questions that were raised and asked, but not successfully answered. For example, how does one baby become a 30-year-old drunk while hundreds if not thousands more do not? Personal responsibility. Why are some kids not in school at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning while others are in class trying to learn? Personal responsibility. Why are some people willing to do what it takes legally to raise children and support their family, while others are not? Personal responsibility.

While I will agree that Milwaukee is not the city that my family has been living in since 1859, and that there are things that could and should be changed for the better, none of this will be possible if we as individuals and as a collective whole do not accept responsibility when it is needed. If you are a hard-working parent whose children are in school and are working toward self-improvement, then you are not responsible for those who choose to do the opposite, and trying to get people to accept this is simply going to lead to failure.

No one wants to hear that they have taken steps that lead to problems and mistakes, but it’s the only way one can and will change, nothing more will do.

Maybe next time a series is written about our city, with both its good and bad points, there will be less fingerpointing and more self-examination, but I doubt it.

Brian Brehmer

Milwaukee