The victim identity doesn’t have to follow him around his whole life. Really, it’s up to him, and it’s up to you and me.
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It was absolutely crazy. He was pulled over by the police and given a $400 ticket for using a handheld device while driving his five-ton truck. He retaliated by driving across the city to the police station and ramming into five police cruisers before leading a high-speed chase down the highway. At the end of the trial, he was given a few years in jail and a fine of $66,000 to pay for the damages to the police cruisers.
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People use it to increase the sympathy for a whole host of problems.
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As I listened to the response on talk radio, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. People called to weigh in with their response, and they shamed the judge for giving such a harsh sentence. “They’ve ruined his life!” one caller complained. “It will take years for him to pay that money back!”
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Where I live, the victim card is pulled a lot of the time. People use it to increase the sympathy for a whole host of problems. Since, as a society, we don’t ever want to be guilty of “victim blaming,” everybody wants to BE the victim. When I was in elementary school, I was taught to take responsibility not only for myself but also for those around me. But, as a grown man, I’m taught the merits instead of playing the victim and blaming people around me.
What really strikes me, though, is how far people go to paint others with the victim brush. They come out of the woodwork, calling into talk radio stations complaining that so-and-so is on the short end of Justice. The world is against them. People hate them. The government is hell bent to destroy them. And the people eat it up. I’m afraid, our government does, too.
Because it’s to their advantage to paint everybody as weak and helpless. Taking responsibility means providing for yourself, your money, your happiness, your family, your job, your temper, your actions. We were taught, once upon a time, that being a grown up means taking responsibility. But now, it’s to the advantage of the powerful of everybody else is a victim. Then, we depend on them for our jobs, our income, our health, our happiness.
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I am hopeful for the young guy who lost his temper with five police cruisers.
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I used to think it was a victim mentality pervading our culture that was the problem. Now, I think it’s the victim identity. We’re identified as victims by those who want to become our saviours, and we eat it up. But it’s time that we also take responsibility, say no to those who want to identify us in that way, and even pay the consequences for our behaviours.
I am hopeful for the young guy who lost his temper with five police cruisers. I hope that he’ll learn responsibility as he spends every day he has been sentenced in prison and returns to society as someone who gives value to others. I hope he will not see himself as the victim, that it was somebody else’s fault, but that he learns from his mistakes. I hope he’ll find creative and positive, affirmative ways to earn the money he owes and that he’ll prosper even after he pays every cent he owes. The victim identity doesn’t have to follow him around his whole life. Really, it’s up to him, and it’s up to me and you as well.
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Photo: Flickr/ Lucia Castillo
