They are both a matter of owning up to what you do-good, bad or indifferent. It is important for a Jedi to take them seriously because you it earns you and the community as a whole respect and you can begin the process of learning where your faults are and where you need to improve.
Today I got half of the day off so as to make up for my working shifts this week. I find myself at a coffee shop on Kadena writing up this assignment because I just don't want to stay in my room all day. Since I've been here though, an Air Force officer has walked in, and I decided to ask him what his own personal take on Personal Responsibility and Accountability was. As it turns out, he had just as difficult of a time explaining his viewpoint as I am. Mostly because we both understand how we feel on the subject, but it is difficult to put down in words. But he helped me a lot when he spoke about how personal responsibility and accountability should be looked at from a professional standpoint. His conclusion, was that it sets an example for those around you.
He was referring to the fact that the US Military is considered "ambassadors" by our government. Any country we go to, we are what the local population looks at as the "American Example". So if we are terrible people, then the rest of America must be terrible people. If we are good people, then Americans must be good people.
One of the things that annoys me, is the ongoing issue that we-as the US Military Police Corps-have goes back as far as late 2003: Abu Ghraib. Although most of you know the story, I am going to give a quick brief on it, as I have come across military personnel who have never even HEARD of Abu Ghraib, let alone the scandal that took place there.
The 800th MP Brigade was discovered tried in 2004 for treating detainees inhumanely. Some of the actions that were caught on camera (photographed) included detainees naked and piled up in a "human pyramid" with guards from the unit posing. Members of the unit who were found guilty were sentenced to spend time at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
While many of you don't see the on-going problems with it, Military Times has monitored some of the more outrageous things that have come from the madness. The last one I remember fairly well, because I ended up talking with everyone that came through the arms room about it. At the time I read it, I had already deployed, spent 14 months doing detainee operations and come back home. The Military Times article reads the following:
"Former Pfc. Lynndie England’s recent apology for her role in abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was tempered by her scorn for the media, whom she blamed for sensationalizing “what happens in war.” In an interview with German magazine Stern, she said she felt “sorry and wrong” for actions such as holding a naked prisoner on a leash or pointing at the genitals of another as a cigarette dangled from her mouth. But, she said, those incidents turned into scandal only because the media broadcast leaked photos."
Being an MP myself, I personally feel that Lynndie is a disgrace to my corps. We as MPs are the example for the rest of the military. We are not perfect, but we should at least strive to meet the standard, and this unit just did not. You could argue that they may not have been taught Geneva Conventions. As it turns out, when this information started hitting the fan, I had already been to Basic Training at the exact same school they all attended. PFC Lynndie and her friends were taught the exact same thing I was-and we were taught about Geneva Conventions. In fact, the class stressed it. I attended school in June 2003, the inhumane acts (supposedly) began one month after I got back, in October 2003. Because of these individuals, MPs are not trusted by detainees, that coupled with the fact that the Iraqi Police aren't much better than the people who committed these actions against the detainees.
How does this relate to the Jedi Community? More than you may think. It shows the importance of our appearance to the rest of the world. If one of us messes up and does not own up to it-and instead blames his/her training/trainers for not teaching them properly (such as the Abu Ghraib incident) that makes our community lose credibility-and as it stands, we are trying are hardest to gain ground on the credibility island.
I believe we should teach personal responsibility and accountability to our students. How? That is a good question. My best suggestion would be to give an example of what it can do (such as the story I outlined above) and then ask the student(s) to think about and share with the group (or with their master if it's a master/apprentice relationship) an example in their own life where taking responsibility for his/her action would have benefited them better. Inspire them to look at how their emotional state was effected, and how it effected their life at the time as well as that of others. By looking at the actual situation from a well-rounded prospective, we can better understand the importance of such a lesson.