Beating the Blame Game – Toni M. Babcock
“Let all bitterness, anger, and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ,” (Ephesians 4:31-32 CSB).
Most of us could find something negative in our lives to blame somebody else for, but it’s better not to get stuck there. It’s better to live glad than decide to stay mad, and better to dig for treasure than dig for dirt. Such treasure is free to those who find it—like thankfulness, love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, and the promises of God.
Ever been around someone who is constantly shifting blame? It doesn’t garner a lot of sympathy. Blaming as a rule doesn’t make one stronger, it makes one weaker. It doesn’t make one more resourceful, it makes one more resentful. It doesn’t make one more capable, it makes one prone to fail.
Shifting blame can be hurtful to society as well. For every problem we own and take responsibility for as a nation, there’s always good we should be thankful for too, but listening to some you’d think our country is more worthy of the trash heap of fallen democracies. There’s plenty of guilt to go around in the world, but pointing the finger of blame while taking zero responsibility for one’s own imperfections and outcomes in life is disingenuous. Constantly shifting the blame onto others is oppressive. People are more willing to own and take their fair share of responsibility when those who cast blame are willing to own and take their fair share. Otherwise, it’s deflection and politics as usual.
We ALL have a responsibility to turn the mirror on ourselves and discover how we might be contributing to our own bad outcomes, otherwise, we can’t be serious about working together as a nation to find fair honest solutions that will produce a change in our lives and fix pressing problems in society as a whole.
Toni M. Babcock is the author of Reflections from the Heart and The Stone Writer. Contact
