Ross Laird recently wrote a piece, “Addiction and Responsibility“, expressing the folly of simplifying the problem of addiction and seeking to place blame for such a complex and multi-causal issue. He also points out that there is a harmful tread in societies to oversimplify when dealing with our most important social issues. As divisions arise in philosophy and politics at ever increasing rates, it is very wise to take on a sense of responsibility for our societies, communities, families and selves.
Mr. Laird’s piece is quite insightful as a whole, and I urge you to take a couple minutes to read it, but I’d like to share the following paragraph with you, for I find it most pertinent.
Mr. Laird’s piece is quite insightful as a whole, and I urge you to take a couple minutes to read it, but I’d like to share the following paragraph with you, for I find it most pertinent.
In practical terms, I’m suggesting that substance users take personal responsibility for their addiction, that families take responsibility for their part in the evolution and resolution of addiction, and that society take responsibility for making the substantive changes required to reduce the damage caused by addiction. This is how society works: by way of connections between people, by way of truthfulness about our dependencies on one another. Blame poisons those dependencies, separates us, encourages us to break the bonds essential to healing.
Though he speaks here directly about addiction, Mr. Laird’s suggested approach can just as successfully be applied to any societal ill. By not seeking to place blame, but to instead take on responsibility for ourselves and the world we live in and a deep respect for our inate interconnectedness, we are more able to approach problems as individuals and as societies without, or at least minimalizing, the divisions we often create through inflexibility.