Take Responsibility For Your Actions
by Phillip Day

"The reason there is so little crime in Germany
is that it's against the law."- Alex Levin

Here's a timely one in view of today's 'victim' culture, where no-one can slip on a banana skin without suing for a pay-out. We knew the compensation culture would catch up with us one day and it has. What really depresses me is the sheer number of sluggards crawling out of the woodwork to sticky their fingers with the hand-outs.

A police officer wants compensation because he's suffering 'post traumatic stress disorder' for attending car accidents. Here's my advice, mate. If you don't like blood, which, since you were not told, sadly goes with a policeman's duties, get another job. It should be that simple to understand, but clearly it's not. Why? Because you know you can get away with it. Because, if you bleat 'victim' loud enough, an ever-expanding army of shiny-reared, tax-gobbling jobsworths will fall over themselves to cough up your shame-money. And shame's what I call it when a society sticks two fingers up at moral rectitude and sees 'human rights' as nothing more than a fast-track payout to an indolent life.

Eight-year-old Cait Atkins is struck crossing a road in Aylesbury, UK and the driver does a runner - no surprises there. What happened next, or rather didn't, is the real shame. Up to a dozen cars drive around Cait's crumpled form as she lies in agony in the middle of the road. Not one stops to offer her assistance. One driver even waits impatiently for her to crawl out of the way.

Another scumbag, Barry Chambers, takes refuge on a Gloucester roof after allegedly stealing a car. He bombards the police with bricks and missiles. So, instead of going up there to fetch him down like we pay them to, Gloucester Plod buys the wretch a KFC meal, a bottle of Pepsi (the can was rejected in favour of a two-litre bottle) and a pack of fags so his rights aren't 'infringed'. In the unlikely event the plan was to plug up the fellow's arteries so he rolled off the roof and landed between the paws of a K9 unit, one could at least admire such sui generis creativity. Sadly, this wasn't the case.

A society no longer willing to teach right from wrong lets murderers out in five years, teaches three-year-old children 'gay diversity' to root out homophobes, and allows liars and criminals to serve in public office. Welcome to the hoodie culture. In fact, hug a hoodie today, as David Cameron urges, because it's not their fault they do what they do, it's yours for not liking Pee-Diddy in the first place.

A society is a reflection of the individuals who comprise it, and look what we've become. Was a time we fell off our bike, picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and carried on as if nothing had happened. Today, when we fall off our bike, we're dusted off by a social worker, referred into a victim support group, and if that doesn't work we can sue the government on legal aid. Alternatively, if we're slam-dunked by some appalling stroke of 'fate' such as wanton debt, an illicit affair or a Prozac or Valium dependency, we can slip into the 'victim' jacket and seek out the nearest agony aunt, astrologer or Feng Shui advisor. These are only too happy to oblige with the latest scoop, pocketing our money and reassuring us it's nothing we did, it's just society's a dog, the new moon's in the 11th house and the furniture's all in the wrong place.

To me, taking responsibility for your actions is a lot more than owning up to nicking a Wonderbra, it's a downright duty of care to get busy whenever a governing system starts losing the plot. As with all extremism, the later you confront it, the uglier the options become, and that goes for your own behaviour as well. Yet thousands abandon Britain each year, taking with them not just the Ambre-Solaire. They quit their jobs, sell up and leave the country because 'Britain was the problem', they didn't like it, didn't want to do anything about it, and, to paraphrase Voltaire, 'never having been able to succeed in the world, they took their revenge by speaking ill of it'. Translated: They got run out of town.

What happened to 'the buck stops here'?

· There's nothing wrong with emigrating, just make sure you're not the problem
· Take responsibility for your actions
· Don't lie, cheat or steal!
· The grass is rarely greener. As George Moore says, 'A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it'
· If you don't like the way things are, take action and Start Complaining. From now on, let's have Outraged from Tunbridge Wells, Fed-Up from Fargo and Ticked Off from Toowoomba
· Be an upstanding citizen and campaign for the society you want
· Own a good conscience
· Be blameless
· Stand by your values and don't ever back down. Or, like the city of Gloucester, you'll soon discover allowing the loonies free run of the asylum ends up costing rather more than just Barry's Bargain Bucket and a packet of Winstons.

Extracted with permission from Phillip Day's forthcoming new book, Simple Changes: Your 100 Ways to a Happier, Healthier Life. Available from 1st October via Credence.