Responsibility
Submitted by J on February 13 2002 07:55:19
In reply to Using what you've learned to teach. submitted by Fleetwood on February 11 2002 19:55:08
|
Dear Fleetwood, Thanks for your post. A therapist a while back brought up the whole issue of being responsible for one's own feelings and I challenged her on the grounds that such a philosophy absolves an offending person of accepting responsibility for causing emotional damage. I flipped it around and asked her if my young friend should therefore take responsibility for the emotional pain he feels. No, I should (and do) take responsibility for the pain my young friend has suffered on account of my actions. My actions caused him emotional pain. Transfer of ownership of such feelings to the offended person is not necessary for them to be dealt with by the offended person, as ultimately they must be - there is nothing I can do to help my young friend with his struggles but to pray. I'm sure we could spend a long time exploring this issue, as it is not nearly as simple as either of us have presented it - I just wanted to raise one ramification of owning all of our own feelings that I cannot accept. Love in the Lord, J |
Follow ups: