Blame

Have you ever met someone that when they fail, they always blame someone else?

I have.

It's always somebody else's fault but their's.

Whether they blame their teacher, a parent, a coach, or a boss, it is always someone else's fault.

Unfortunately, this type of person is doomed to a lifetime of failure.

Failure is never final unless we let it be - unless we don't get back up, dust ourselves off and press on to other adventures.

However, blame, and the character deficit of always displacing personal responsibility will build a wall so high that even the most well intentioned of people can not overcome.

People say:

"I lost my job because of this person or that person".

"My marriage failed because my spouse did this or that".

"I failed at my job because of my boss, or because of the people around me."

Blame can lead to self-pity and a victim mentality.

People who fail (while not accepting responsibility) mess up and then they can blow up, or try to cover up, or seed up, or back up or simply give up.

They do everything but "wake up" and accept responsibility.  They fail to open their eyes, admit their mistakes and accept complete responsibility for their current wrong actions and attitudes. 

Here's what I know:  the characteristic of blaming is learned at an early age.

Kent Crockett has written:  "One day when my son Scott was two years old, I heard him crying.  I went into his room and my daughter Hannah, who was four, was there also.  A plastic bat was lying of the floor. 

"What happened to Scott?"  I asked.

Hannah answered, "He hit his head." 

"On what?"

She pointed toward the bat on the floor and said, "The bat."

"Where was the bat?"

She said, "In my hand."

Blame.

Here's the good news:  what has been learned can be unlearned.

Wayne W. Dyer has written, "all blame is a waste of time.  No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much  you blame them, it will not change you.  The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration.  You may succeed in making another feel guilty of something by blaming them, but you won't succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy."

So true. 

Part of living the Christian faith is accepting responsibility for our actions.  We can't blame anyone else.  When I sin, it is because I choose to sin.  When I fail, I need to look at myself first.

Here's a question:

Why not accept responsibility today for your actions, and then move on with God's power in your
life?

Finally, Michael Korda writes, "Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility....In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.

Just a thought for a Tuesday.