Being Responsible

Accepting Responsibility

vs.

Being Responsible

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 2, 2019

NOTE:  Anything in BLUE and Underlined is an active link to an Internet Web Site

You have seen the social media posts that ask the question what would YOU tell your 15 year old self if you could.  I learned a lesson from the famous trainer Zig Ziglar that I have NEVER forgotten from the first moment he told the story.  I remember the story word-for-word.  Found it on the Internet as well.  Read it and you decide.  Is this a life lesson that should be taught to everyone or not?  Is this something you would tell your 15 year old self?

In the 1950s, an incident took place on a sweltering summer afternoon alongside a railroad track where a crew of workers was doing some repair work. A train came chugging down the track and pulled off on a side rail. A window opened and a voice—a man’s voice—shouted out, “Dave! Dave Anderson, is that you?”

It was; in fact, Dave Anderson was in charge of the crew. “Yeah, Jim, it’s me,” he shouted back.

The man on the train, Jim Murphy, yelled out, “Well, come on over here and let’s chat a while.”

So Dave stopped what he’d been doing and joined Jim Murphy in his private air-conditioned railroad car for almost an hour, no doubt happy to get out of the broiling sun. When the conversation ended, he made his way back to his crew working on the track. The flabbergasted crew stared at him in utter shock and said something to the effect of, “That was Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad.”

“Yup, it sure was,” Anderson said.

They all gathered around and excitedly wanted to know how Dave knew Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad, for God sakes, to say nothing about he got to be such good buddies with the man and on a first-name basis to boot!

Dave explained: “Well, it’s quite simple—when I started with the railroad over 20 years ago, Jim Murphy started at the same time; we’ve been pals ever since.”

Now the crew is astonished as much as they are confused. They want to know how it is that Dave and Jim Murphy started working for the railroad at the same time and Murphy rose to such dizzying heights while old Dave is still working on the track in the hot sun. How in God’s name did that happen?

Dave looked wistfully up into the sky and said, “A little over 20 years ago Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad; I went to work for a $1.75 an hour.”

I don’t think I even have to ask the question as to whether you have witnessed someone like Dave Anderson who went to work for the money instead of going to work for the company.  Hopefully that someone is NOT you. We both know they exist by the thousands; probably millions.  It is all about BEING RESONSIBLE. 

In today’s world we see politicians and celebrities being caught at doing something they shouldn’t have done oftentimes illegal activities.  What do they all say?  “I take full responsibility for what I have done.”  What exactly does “taking full responsibility” mean?  Can anyone answer that question?  To me it means, “Okay, you caught me, I’ll say what you expect me to say and then we will all move on” and then NOTHING happens - NOTHING!  If a person were to practice BEING RESPONSIBLE, there would never be an illegal activity that you would be caught as having done. 

The Zig Ziglar story has several meanings and the difference between BEING RESPONSIBLE and ACCEPTING RESPONIBILITY is one of them.  Jim Murphy was BEING RESPONSIBLE not only to the company but to himself and his family.  Dave Anderson was simply collecting a pay check nothing more, nothing less.

The best questions are those that you ask yourself.  Here’s one that could mean the difference between being a great success as compared to just surviving.  Whether you are self-employed or you work for a company, answer the question, why do I go to work?  The difference could be the difference between becoming president of the railroad and laying track in the hot sun.

If I could really talk to my 15 year old self this is the lesson I would love to teach.  When a 15 year old makes the decisions as a 15 year old, especially the “right decisions”. they WILL be the difference between becoming president of the railroad and living pay check to pay check as so many Americans do.  Are you one of them?