I’m sure most of you if not all of you heard of or watched the “Steve Harvey moment” on Miss Universe 2015 finale (If you live under a rock and didn't hear about it, click here)
Now, I cannot even imagine how Steve felt in that moment. If that happened to me, I would wish the ground would just open and suck me in. However, at the end of the whole show I felt it was okay to refer to Steve as a hero. I think we need more people like him in our generation, not people who will make silly mistakes anyhow oh lol. People who will drop their pride, take responsibility for their mistake and apologise the way Steve did (“see the way you're calling him by his first name and he’s older than your father” - shoutout to our African Aunties out there NO SHADE haha)
[Moving on..]
This thing I call the “Steve Harvey Moment” is something that is common to us all. We have all made various kinds of mistakes at some point in our lives. However, many of us NEVER take responsibility for them. We blame everyone else, If some of us were in Mr. Steve’s shoes we would have said the fault was from the producers, the writing on the card was not legible enough, or even gotten someone else to clean up your mess for you.
I Know someone who is challenged with anger and the very few times we talked about it, their response was “it’s not my fault, I inherited it from my dad”.
Some of us are always quick to push the responsibility of our mistakes to others. You fail your exam, you say the lecturer is wicked or they “eat marks” (Nigerians I hail oh lol) and at least one person on that course would get an excellent grade ("Do they have two heads?"). Have you ever thought maybe if I made more time for my books I’ll be one of those who did well on their tests? Your marriage is going downhill you blame everyone else but yourself. Your child becomes a drug addict you say its the bad friends they keep… Sir, where were you when he was keeping them (they don't get addicted in one day). The bible says in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it” - Don’t leave a nanny to train your child for you, give them adequate attention, teach them the values of life from when they are young (Please don't get me wrong: I’m not saying some children/youths are not to blame for their own misfortune, but some parents who are equally guilty are very quick to point fingers here and there).
This “taking responsibility for your mistake” game is a hard one to play. We think of the shame, what will people say? or some other times pride just takes over.. makes us believe we are bigger than that mistake or we feel too big to admit them.. so pointing fingers seems legit at that point.
In that argument you just had, you were so convinced you were right and your friend/husband/fiancé/sister was totally wrong and should apologise right? have you ever tried to think that maybe, just maybe you're to blame as well?
IT IS TIME to start taking responsibility for your own mistakes. They are YOUR mistakes after all. I know it can be really hard to do, sometimes its easier to just push the blame around. Yes Steve Harvey taking responsibility for his mistake brought him shame, my guy even got death treats from the Columbians 😫. Personally I feel like the initial shame you’ll feel would pass but on the long run your conscience is clear, you feel that freedom and pride in yourself for cleaning up your own mess.
All this long story I just wrote is me saying to you all - “take responsibility for your damn mistake!!!!”
April Favourites
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche - Novel
Couple of days - Movie
PS: Thank you all for reading, sharing and leaving comments on my previous post. I hope at least one person got encouraged. I hope you enjoyed this one too? Please read, share and leave a comment (contributions or suggestions are welcome)
