What does your footprint look like?

There is so much talk about our carbon footprint and what we are doing to the earth. What about our social foot print. The foot print we leave on the individuals who will guide us into the future and make a difference between social success or community failure. 
Our social footprint seems to be a real problem. Raising children to become responsible, self aware and caring individuals. I often hear people blaming others or situations for their problems. What happen to ownership and integrity. When something goes wrong in my life I don't look around me for people to blame. I don't say I'm an alcoholic because someone or something did me wrong. I'm a alcoholic becasue I like to drink and I drink a lot. My mom is an alcoholic but she didn't pour me drinks for the last 16 years that was me!
We have all had our fair share of shit parenting, bad choices, and struggles. As a parent I'm sure I'm making decisions that would cause any counselor to flip in his chair.  In general the bad things that happen to us are products of decisions we made and if you trace back to the begining of a situation, you can usually find the fork in the road where "you" made the wrong turn. Why is it so hard to say "I F @#*'d up", that was my fault. What happened to the golden rule. I hear people say "well you did that to me" or "other people do it all the time". If you don't like the way someone treated you then why would you turn around an exhibit the same behavior. It's like not tipping a waitress, do you really think she is reflecting on herself or her performance? No, she just thinks your an asshole because you didn't tip. She isn't associated her performance with tips. She's thinking about how she's going to make rent.
I cut kids a break. We are the ones who should be guiding them and teaching them they are not the victim. Everyone has a chance to make a positive choice. Our actions, even the smallest are huge. My daughter asked me once while we were on a hike why I kept picking up debris on a trail. I told her because that's our job and responsiblity. When something doesn't go her way, I tell her it was her decision and we all make choices, she just happened to make the wrong one.
Making bad decisions is part of life. We learn most from things we failed at. Failure can define us in a positive way, changing our coarse in life to move in a direction that supports and reflects success or you can let it define you negatively and you can pine for the rest of your life in search of who to blame.