Accountability
Accountability, a Noun which means the quality or state of being accountable especially: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions. (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)
Have you ever pledged to be a part of a Greek Letter organization? If so, you should already have a great reference point for understanding the concept of accountability. If not, don’t feel left out. Accountability shows up in many other ways. It shows up in church and community organizations too numerous to name. Accountability shows up in marriage, parenting, school, at work, in sports, with family and friends.
Accountability is a selfless act of sacrifice whereby you take up the cause of others because in that very moment, they may be unable. Accountability is owning what you have done or perhaps owning what you haven’t done in order to move on from a particular situation that is greater than you. Accountability in many instances requires a strong dose of humility where you must lower yourself and submit to authority or perform tasks you otherwise would not perform.
In the first few stanzas of Rudyard Kipling’s If, he seems to capture the essence of accountability:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
Accountability is necessary in all aspects of life. It can be illustrated in countless ways but the ultimate example is the betrayal, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We encouragenyou to read and revisit this example whenever you have doubts around the need to beaccountable to yourself and or others.