Can Anyone be Happy to Bear Responsibility for a Mistake?

 

Can Anyone be Happy to Bear Responsibility for a Mistake?

I know politicians are under big-time stress when they try to respond to questions even if they be in a not so “gotcha” environment. So, this short post is merely to point out such an instance, with no malice. And, no names either.

I know I make errors of grammar in speaking and writing in English. Many times I catch myself and carry out the correction in near real-time, as in giving a lecture to a class.  I am happier when a student points out such an error, more for acknowledging the implicit freedom in my class.

It is as such a student I wish to point out what appeared in the newspaper. A politician said, “...I am more than happy to take responsibility for everything [something, someone] has ever done wrong in its history.”

While taking such a load on to one’s shoulders−as noble as it may sound, or as empty as the words may weigh in−one cannot ever be happy. One may feel sorry, downhearted, remorseful, despondent, dispirited etc., but can never be happy.

In a way, I am sure the politician did not mean to say, “I am happy that I have laid the burden down,” or, “At last I am free!” I do excuse him for the slip.

I am sure the listeners did not catch on to this, as I too might not have, had I been listening. It is because I read the words in the newspaper I caught this.

There is something, after all to reading.

Raghuram Ekambaram