Published: July 20, 2008 12:07 am            

VASICEK: Take responsibility for your actions

An employer was considering promoting his clerk, Jones, to a higher position. He asked the clerk, “What makes you say that you have a track record of being responsible?”

“Well, sir,” Jones responded, “at my last job, almost on a daily basis, the workers around me would tell the boss, ‘Jones is responsible for that!’”

In my past articles, I have been discussing the concept of evading blame and taking responsibility for our actions. There are many factors (top of the list is upbringing) that influence how responsible or irresponsible we are.

Yet when it comes to blame, individuals who are normally responsible may join forces with less responsible. They unite in their quest to find someone to blame for life’s letdowns. Playing the blame game helps us think that life can be safe and controllable if we can only keep the idiots who run things at bay.

The blame mentality looks to fault an individual or group for problems that are sometimes complex and probably not caused by any particular individual or group. It has become part of our national culture. Like Godzilla arising from the ocean, the blame game surfaces every four years as we approach election time.

We blame Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression and Jimmy Carter for the deep recession. If something happens during a president’s “watch,” it is somehow his fault, even if that includes hurricanes, flooding or acts of God.

Many Americans are more concerned about punishing the oil companies for making a profit than they are addressing high energy costs. Despite the fact that hundreds of billions of dollars are leaving the American economy to purchase foreign oil, we somehow think transforming our oil companies into not-for-profits is going to fix everything. Blame, whining, finger pointing, bold words. But not workable solutions.

The problem is ubiquitous, firmly embraced by both conservatives and liberals. “All our woes come from the other party or ideology. If our people get in, we’ll fix everything in a few months.” Yeah, right. Our elected officials do make some difference, but they have to work with the realities of present life, not the glamorized memories of the past.

Our teachers are supposedly to blame for America’s lackluster performance in education. The fact that our classrooms are filled with children from broken and dysfunctional families is somehow the fault of our educators! I do not think today’s teachers are inferior. I am persuaded that America’s families are inferior (as a rule) when contrasted to the “Leave It to Beaver” era – especially when measured by stability, discipline, nutritional habits, supervision, learning from parents how to concentrate and focus, family time and conversation.

Some are eager to sue their physician whenever a loved one dies – as if people never died before the advent of the modern medicine. Attorneys get it from all sides, but most of us are frustrated at the legal system (and its reasoning), not the attorneys who work within that system.

Some people blame the police for crime. Many Americans do not understand that our law enforcement agencies are certainly not responsible for crime (the criminals are). They can only attempt to enforce the law and provide a deterrent.

Some folks think everything is quite simple; a problem can be cured if we can address the culprit. Others assume problems typically involve layers of complexity and the convergence of many factors. I side with this latter group.

We do need to train future generations to take responsibility for their choices, but we should not downplay the power of example. Our expertise at blaming others suggest that the culprit is never us – nor the grassroots of America. We are innocent victims, being bullied by politicians, professionals and the wealthy classes.

As long as we can blame someone, it seems, we do not have to think deeply or come up with ways to realistically address current issues. We can simply blame some sort of conspiracy.

When you pay extravagant amounts at the gas pump, you can curse the oil companies, the Republican president or the Democratic Congress. Wouldn’t it be better to push for energy independence?

Ed Vasicek is pastor of Highland

Park Church and a weekly

contributor to the Kokomo Tribune.

        

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