This is going to look like a political post, but it's not. There's a leadership drain in America today. It's become so bad that, instead of people taking the responsibility for their part in all things, they need to find reasons to blame someone, or something else, for them.

Tonight was the Republican presidential candidates debate. Every person up on the stage blamed the president for everything that's wrong in America today, including his handling of the Iraq War. In the Democratic debate a couple of weeks ago, the same thing happened. Now, whether there is or isn't, what no one talks about is what they did or didn't do to help create this situation. In other words, none of them took on a leadership role and, instead, said what they'd have done if they'd been in his shoes at that time.

Any time something bad happens that involves members of the black community, one of the first thing I hear is "where are the black leaders". I'm sorry to be the one who has to say this, but the black leaders are every single adult in every single community who has two legs, two arms, and a head on their shoulders. Because, if one always waits for someone else to take the lead, something positive may never take place.

I have a friend who always has an excuse for this or that as to why they haven't been able to achieve any of the goals that they'd set for themselves. True, sometimes life does get in the way, but the truth is that if one takes leadership of their own affairs, they at least give themselves a better chance of success than they do sitting around waiting for breaks to come their way.

Sometimes, it's not good enough to sit back and say "that's not my job". When I was a director, there were plenty of things that came up where I knew I wasn't the person in charge, but something had to be done so I'd just do it and worry about the consequences later, which never came up because the situations were taken care of; no harm, no foul. If I'd waited for someone else to make that decision, it might have been too late, and if I'd put it to a committee the answers might not have been appropriate, because sometimes a committee isn't the best option when one has to take the time to educate them on the issue thoroughly so that they have the chance to give proper opinions.

When did the blame game become so much in vogue? What happened to the days where Harry Truman could put a plaque on his desk that said "the buck stops here"? Everyone has that inner leader within; all you have to do is have the courage to allow it to come out every once in awhile. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you see.