On responsibility for actions

I know that a lot of my philosophical babble is just that - babble. And a lot of the rest is common sense. Well, today we will be more or less in the common sense category.

There are lots of levels of responsibility for actions. For a long time, I've valued honor (in the old-fashioned sense) and believed that one should always accept responsibility for their actions.

But I think I can do much better.

Sometimes, I do better and claim responsibility for my actions. This is better in that responsibility is taken for an action without needing someone to effectively call you on it.

Now here's the common sense part. Why is it better to claim responsibility for an action than to accept it? Because it's earlier and more considered.

That can be expanded easily. One could take responsibility while doing an action. Or even further - one could be responsible for a decision to act.

I think people claim (myself included) that they're responsible for their actions when they are not. In point of fact, most people tend to (at best) accept their actions post-facto. It seems rather obvious and common-sensical - banal even - but I've got a lot of work to look forward to if I'm serious about being responsible.

It boils down to the difference between these:

• Yeah. You're right. My decision to continue got him killed.
• I'm sorry. He got killed because of my decision to continue.
• My decision to keep going could get somebody killed.
• Given the possibility of someone getting killed if I choose to continue, I believe we should keep going.

I have a long ways to go.