I often thought of accountability as a useless myth.  I didn’t think it actually works.  Does it?  To answer this question we first need to define what its job is.  If we think, as I used to, that its job is to keep an eye on people to prevent unwanted behavior, then we are correct that it does not work.  But here is what accountability is actually very good at: Accountability works like a mirror. It allows us to see things about ourselves that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to see, and that’s all it can do for us.  It is a powerful, but limited tool.  We must decide what we will do with what it reveals.  If we look in a mirror and see that our hair is completely messed up, or that we have a piece of black pepper in our teeth, we can ignore those things or we can adjust them.  Needless to say the mirror is useless to us if we ignore what it shows us.  But if we fix our hair or floss our teeth as a result of the reflection, then we are wise for it, but either way the mirror has done its job.

We do need to remember that this metaphor, while it is a good one, it’s only a metaphor.  It breaks down in that mirrors, or at least good mirrors, can be trusted almost absolutely.  We use them not only for simple things like grooming, but also for critical things like microscopes, weapons and surgical tools.  We even stake our lives on them when we switch lanes on the highway.  Accountability can also have simple and critical applications.  The difference, and therefore the point in which the metaphor breaks down, is in the accuracy.  While a good mirror will always show you what is really going on, a person that is reflecting your actions back to you can have inherent flaws that will distort the reflection.  A mirror can give a bad reflection by being bent or imperfect, and a man can also be bent and is always imperfect.  But the man is also dynamic; changing and responding to internal and external stimuli, thus it can be very hard to decipher what the true reflection is.  However, like with a bent mirror, the image is still of us, although it is distorted.

How do you respond to the reflection of accountability?  In response to my point that all men are flawed, you may decide that no flawed mirror is worth looking at.  However, if you really want to know what you look like, a bent mirror is better than no mirror.  And if you look at several mirrors you’ll start to get an idea of what you really look like.  Because all of us humans are morally flawed, we often don’t care to see what we “look like”, but there is great value in knowing.  We can’t fix something if we are not aware that it is broken.  Something that works correctly is better than that same something when it is broken.  We can become better spouses, parents, friends, employees, citizens and people if we are willing to look into the mirror of accountability and respond to what we find.  And the wonderful thing about responding is that we then become a little straighter ourselves, and therefore we give a better reflection to those that look to us to discover things about themselves.  Responding to and giving the reflection of accountability makes the world a better place.