…#accountability.

We’re sharing our experiences, thoughts, and uncensored opinions during lockdown, quarantine, and self-isolation. For some of us, it’s DAY 60. 

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Anti-corruption or status quo?

RJD, #Beirut, #Lebanon

Unfortunately, lately I have been very down because there is no accountability in my country. Since February 21, we managed to contain the #Covid-19 outbreak in Lebanon. Hooha!

On May 4, we started phasing out the lockdowns. Today, May 13, the country went back into a total lockdown for the coming four days. Our infection rate has steadily increased after reaching 2 days with a zero-case rate!

Covid-19, worldwide, has become politicized. Lebanon is no exception. On top of which, our society lives on finding a way to break the law, not that there is much law and order in the first place.

So who is accountable?

It isn’t the people who have worked hard to achieve our amazing results up until this week. It isn’t the people who heeded the warnings and stayed home and wore masks and gloves.

Accountability begins at home, then moves into society and government. In our case, I blame society and government. Our government is to blame and should be held accountable for not following through on any of the laws we ever created, unless they are financially beneficial to the chief and his cronies.

Society is to be blamed and held accountable for knowing that it can break a law and there is no reprimand.

The only way to solve this problem is by instituting anti-corruption laws that are implemented to the T, with incentives for those who enforce them. Society and government alike.

That, my dear friends, is a long way away over yonder.

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Start at the top

Tina F., Fairfax, #Virginia

When I hear the words, “holding someone accountable,” I think of imposing consequences for bad behavior. It can be used to describe an individual’s responsibility to implement certain expectations.

Ideally the “leaders” in all aspects of society should be the ones to set good examples. We start at the top, causing a trickle-down effect of good behavior and accountability.

When it comes to the USA, the most obvious person who needs to be held accountable is the US President. Basically the President can exert the power to influence and set the standard for accountability so that his advisors, speakers, the Senate, Congress, and citizens are also held accountable. But when the person at the top is not providing any clear leadership and resorts to finger-pointing to shirk his responsibilities, he sends a terrible message. Our system is broken and we have no qualms hating and disrespecting others.

The accountability of the president is a loaded topic in itself. However, I would like to focus on a smaller section of the government, the criminal justice system.

Recently I have watched a lot of these docuseries about people who are wrongly accused and sent to jail for decades for a crime they did not commit. They spend years writing and reaching out to anyone who will listen. Some lucky few find lawyers or organizations willing dig into past cases, hoping to find evidence to exonerate these incarcerated individuals. Mostly these crimes took place before DNA evidence was used in court so when the evidence is brought out and re-examined, the DNA findings exonerate them. This may sound very quick and easy, but in reality it takes years to reopen a case and present all the bureaucratic paperwork that may eventually release the individual from jail.

This is where I would like to see a major rehab in the system. The accountability for wrongful actions in the judicial system needs to be more severe and publicly displayed.

It is shocking to see the corruption and lack of commitment in one of the most important Governmental departments. In some cases, the prosecution will not cooperate with the defense; in other cases, evidence is deliberately kept out of a trial. These are tactics the prosecution uses to speed up the trial. The value of the young defendant’s life is overlooked in favor of the courts and police departments reaching closure on a case. It is fact that prosecutors can advance their political agenda after several courtroom wins.

The exoneration of the wrongly accused does not automatically mean accountability for any wrongful doing by the criminal justice system.

So what do we do? We need to reassess our system of checks and balances and ensure that some control is in place in all departments of government and private companies. Starting at the top, we should count on our leaders to be held accountable for their wrongdoing, so we can set the example.

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Kindergarten

RafifJ, #Malaga, #Spain

Accountability is an interesting concept, and it’s a hot topic now that there is so little of it around the world.

We learn about accountability early in life, about the time that we’re taught to share toys and play nicely in the sandbox. We learn to apologize sincerely when we bite our friends, and to “own” our behavior, or face consequences. We’re taught to make choices, and we mostly choose to do the right thing.

Where do we start to lose these values? How does accountability fade over time? Is it dead?

As people age, so many of them lose sight of what they learned as little kids. The death of accountability is a slow process, but by the time some folks are adults they’ve given in to greed, selfishness, entitlement, and even a sense of being above the law. You know the people I’m talking about – they transcend political party, religious affiliation, race, or any other distinguishing trait.

Wait. I don’t want start on a rant, so rather than go off on the UTTER LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AROUND THE WORLD, I’m simply going to share something I read a long, long time ago. This piece has stayed with me from the very first time I read it, and I try – try – try to practice its wisdom. Join me, won’t you? Maybe if enough of us take responsibility, own our mistakes, and be accountable for all we say and do, we can encourage our so-called leaders to do the same. Maybe it takes going back to basics.

“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.”

― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

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