I just finished reading the Premonition by Michael Lewis. It was an informative story about the Covid-19 pandemic and the failure of the CDC and federal, state and local governments in responding to it. Throughout the book, a recurring theme seemed to be people’s fear of accountability when making decisions. There we were, with a pandemic on our hands and nobody wanted to enforce the strict measures that all the experts knew we needed to implement because they were unpopular and there was a chance that the pandemic would fizzle out on its own. I remember seeing President Trump on the news in 2020 trying to downplay the seriousness of the virus. The CDC as well were guilty of downplaying the severity of what was going on and according to the book, many in leadership positions were banning even saying the word “pandemic” in any emails or group calls. It is well known now among academics that social distancing and lockdowns can lessen the spread of the disease. This seems like common sense, but it required some brave people to go against the current notion at the time of “we can do nothing to stop the spread of the virus”. But even with that knowledge, there were times in history when mayors and governors and CDC leaders decided to act on what was thought to be a pandemic, like the swine flu for example, and having it actually just fizzle out on its own. These people closed down schools and enforced lockdowns and then were fired and humiliated afterwards when it did not end up happening. Unfortunately, this was fresh in the minds of all of the leaders during 2019-2020 when we were at the beginning of what was to be one of the deadliest pandemics in recent history. Rather than acknowledging the risk of being held accountable and deciding to make the hard decisions anyway (as a leader should), people became afraid of the accountability and the consequences of getting fired if they were wrong. This is why they downplayed the severity of the pandemic until it was obviously undeniable that this was one of the worst pandemics we’ve had to deal with. Then they tried to push the narrative of it being impossible to prevent the spread of the virus, which is only a half truth. It would be impossible to completely stop it, but by implementing the unpopular measures of closing schools down and social distancing, we could lessen the spread to the point where less people die and we can bide our time until we get the proper vaccines in place. This motif of fearing accountability is something that hits a bit close to home for me, not because I’m in some sort of leadership position and am afraid of getting fired, but because i have made mistakes for which I was forced to hold myself accountable. It wasn’t until this most recent batch of mistakes that landed me here in prison that I learned what true accountability means. Before, I would somehow not accept it at all. It was like I was afraid of it, just like the leaders in the CDC and federal state and local governments written about in the book. But since getting sentenced to this bid and reflecting on what true accountability means and making a commitment to it, I’ve been able to lead myself through life much more effectively by forming better habits, taking good care of myself, and ultimately being much more responsible. There’s no leadership without accountability, whether you are leading other people, or leading yourself through your own life. This much has become obvious to me. Its like, if you are committed to holding yourself accountable for your decisions, it suddenly becomes harder to make bad decisions because you know you will have to answer for them. This is the foundation of character, which is the basis for success. My commitment to accountability, which came from this entire affair with the criminal justice system, is one of the things that I consider to be a silver lining of this entire experience. I decided to read this book to inform myself better about certain events, but I also think reflecting on accountability and the way this principle can affect one’s decision making abilities is something that will absolutely help me in preparing for success after prison.
Menu
