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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Harry Truman, One-Armed Economists and Self-Responsibility

Friday July 6, 2001

Harry Truman is known to have expressed, on occasions, a wish for a few one-armed economists. It seems the president was sick of hearing from advisors of that trade who would tell him, "On the one handâ¦but on the other hand." It seems not only economists have such reputations; doctors and all advisers who deal in ambiguities and complex issues must confess that alternative outcomes are possible, depending upon one thing or another.

Ultimately, on matters of economics and health, we must be our own advisors, taking counsel from many sources and seeking out and weighing the evidence before making important choices that affect our ability to self-manage and live well. The attitude that serves us in adopting this mindset and applying it to everything, large and small, is a strong ethic of personal responsibility.

No other quality is so important for the wellness seeker. Without it, the basis for choosing to do the right things in all the three domains and skill areas will not exist. The will to do the right thing will be absent. It's so tempting to offer explanations for slacking in one way or another, for finding excuses and alibis and other people and factors that got in the way of excellence. However, it's not in your interest to compromise by making someone else seem responsible.

There is a nice lesson on self-responsibility in a recent book entitled Charlie D by William D. Fallon. It's about a fabled trader on the New York Stock Exchange named Charlie Di Francesca. A young man of 39 when he died, he had made quite a mark in his brief time, in fact, he had become something of a legend in the trade. But the lesson Charlie's life teaches was about integrity, character and personal responsibility. In a Wall Street Journal review of the book, (1/21/98, p. A17), Stanley W. Angrist quotes an epilogue written by a friend of Charlie D's: Charlie made his own calls-on the floor as with his cancer treatment. If the call was good, his success was his own. If he made a poor call, he had no one to blame but himself. In all the time I knew him, I never heard him criticize or blame another--trader, physician, family member, friend, or foe--for the outcome of any situation. The reviewer concludes, a great lesson for all of us, and indeed it is.

What is needed to promote personal responsibility at every turn in public policy AND personal behavior are fewer one-armed economists or other experts who tell us what to think, how to act and what choices to make. Instead, we need more people willing to do the thinking for themselves, and own up to the outcomes of their choices. Also needed are more cultural supports to educate and otherwise encourage people from childhood on that being accountable is a great advantage in life.

At the same time, we should do what we can to discourage the opposite of self-responsibility, such as entitlement thinking, whining, delegating accountability, blaming and the like. The extraordinary tendency of our laws to allow frivolous legal claims is only the most obvious example of this need. A law professor at UCLA named Eugene Volokh suggests we would be wise as a country to limit the scope of legal actions. Each new legal duty is another restriction on how we conduct our personal and professional lives. Otherwise, we all are at risk for loss of liberty, life savings and any sense of innovation to explore new ground. And, though Harry Truman might not have realized it at the time he looked for those one-armed economists, less likely to perceive the advantages of a strong sense of personal responsibility for health and wellness.

Be well. Check out that bright side of life and be good to yourself.

Domain: mental
Subdomain: mental health

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