Editorial: Self-criticism and responsibility makes you a better person

The toughest thing about understanding who you are as a person is self-criticism. And I will be the first to tell anybody I’m not perfect. I definitely have a lot of flaws. But there has been a theme that I’ve experienced within the last week that proves to me that while I may have flaws, there are some situations that are beyond my control.

Let’s start with my flaws that you probably don’t notice in the newspaper. There are often times where I make mistakes such as misspelling a word (since auto-correct sometimes recognize it as a real word) and not correcting it or misquoting someone. There are times where I may put too much space between a story and a picture.

But there are times where I know I’m not responsible for some of the things going on. While I do my effort to do things as efficiently and correctly, there are instances where the person on the other end is at fault. An example is when an event is submitted for the coming/church events section or a request for coverage is asked. While staff at the Chronicle makes those things happen to the best of their ability, sometimes it’s simply too late because of our policies. That is when a person has to take into account that they should have done it earlier and not blame someone else.

I used myself earlier because there have been numerous instances not involving the newspaper that I have been at fault. It could be something simple as oversleeping or not eating at the right time, I’m at fault for those things. I have to be critical of myself and my actions. But more importantly, I have to take responsibility. There was a quote that I had placed in a newspaper when I was a JROTC student and I said, “I finally learned how to take responsibility.” From that point on, I have continued to stand firm about my mistakes and learn from them.

Growing from these experiences and realizing that you’re not perfect is a step to becoming a better person. We are individuals who make up this world and before we should criticize each other, let’s take a look at what we can do to make ourselves better to make our peers, family, and friends a better person by uplifting them.