Everyone of a certain age seems to have an opinion about what’s wrong with the world today, or what’s wrong with our country today (as opposed to the good old days of the past).

Here’s my submission. The problems we face today are caused in part by our lack of accountability. We seem to want to make other people responsible for our actions and our lack of due diligence.

Here’s an interesting recent example of our total lack of accountability.

On October 14^th in some Walmart stores in Louisiana a computer glitch caused spending limits on EBT (“food stamp”) cards to stop working. Shoppers were able to use their cards to purchase food with no spending limits.

Walmart officials made the decision to allow store patrons to use their cards, and to charge as much as they wanted.

When the stores announced the glitch was fixed and spending limits were restored shoppers abandoned their overflowing carts and left the store.

I am glad we live in a country that makes food available to underprivileged families. I am appalled that in a situation like this greed would be the motivating factor for both the shoppers and the corporation. Why did no one feel accountable for the money they were spending, or allowing to be spent?

What would happen if we all made an effort to be accountable for ourselves, our actions and our responsibilities?

Most importantly, what would it take to restore a sense of personal accountability into our national culture, and how could that change things?