Crashing Through the Wall of Accountability

Crashing Through the Wall of Accountability

We do not understand accountability. I am however blessed to be a student of figuring it out with the help of friends like Sam Silverstein. Thanks to Sam, here is what I have learned.

Accountability is the most difficult word in the English language. No other language in the world has a word that directly translates. Other languages translate accountability into their word for responsibility. Even though we have two different words, we still don’t know the difference.

Here’s the difference. We are responsible for things. We are accountable to people.

We are accountable for keeping our commitments to people.

Accountability is that thing we want for others yet seldom, if ever, for ourselves.

It is already old news now but remember LtCol Scheller, the man that sacrificed his Marine Corps career by demanding accountability regarding Afghanistan from the officers and officials above him?

Now, please know that I know some Marines that served with and under Scheller. Because of their love for him and my love of those Marines, I honor and respect his actions.

While I applaud LtCol Scheller’s actions, there is nothing really knew here. People being critical of the people above them and getting sacked for it is not new. This has happened before and has been happening for centuries.

Captain Crozier, USN, was relieved of command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2020 for speaking out about Covid-19 aboard his ship. He was relieved of his command and was to be reinstated. However, that decision was reversed as reasons were found to deem him unfit for future command.

Similarly, in 1863, Major General Joseph Hooker had harshly criticized President Lincoln and embarrassed his ranking officer (Burnside) by declaring that both the Army and the government needed a dictator. (He must have had his reasons just as Scheller and Crozier had their reasons.)

Lincoln told Hooker know in a letter of his displeasure and dissatisfaction with him. Yet in the same letter let Hooker know he was being promoted to General of the Potomac over Burnside. ?Ultimately, Lincoln replaced Hooker with Grant.

Elbert Hubbard states in his essay on loyalty, “If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him!…If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, why, resign your position and, when you are outside, damn to your heart’s content….so long as you are a part of an institution do not condemn it. Not that you will injure the institution-not that-but when you disparage the concern of which you are a part of, you disparage yourself.”

My USMC officer’s commission states…Know ye that, reprising special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity and abilities of David B. Norris…”

It goes on to say I am to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time as may be given by the President of the United States of America, or other superior officers acting in accordance with the laws of the United States of America…and if I don’t, they can fire my ass.

That’s what happened to Scheller, Crozier, and Hooker…they got fired. Remember that part above about accountability being something we want for others but not for ourselves? While accountability is a two-way street, more often than not, because we don’t understand accountability, it is viewed most often as a one-way or dead-end street.

LtCol Scheller is accountable to himself and the Marines he serves and is willing to pay the price for speaking up. Now that he is outside the institution of the USMC, I hope his convictions as to accountability continues and he keeps that faith. Same with Captain Crozier.

Perhaps they should have remained silent while still on active duty however Scheller nor Crozier nor Hooker remained silent. They all paid a price for their actions and like so many things, our memories are short and we are soon to forget and will continue to call for accountability without really knowing what it means to live by it.

The question remains this: How many times must we continue to make the same decisions expecting a different consequence or result?

Here’s what I know. Until we understand accountability those courageous enough to ask better questions, make better decisions, and take strong action in order to crash through the wall of one-way accountability will always get bloody... Always.