On Blame
I recognize within myself the ability to become easily taken in by the drama of our world. From the tragedies upon hu'manity due to weather conditions and the areas which our kind choose to make their homes... from the seemingly senseless killings from wars waged around the globe on a daily basis that drains my emotions when I become to closely attached to even the most distant wars... and when I hear of food recalls which are invariably foods in the hands of some corporate entity that wants the monopoly on some sector of the food industry (the current egg recall, for example). Am I too naive when I believe the majority of our hu'manity is made up of good people... people who only want a job and some stability in their lives to provide for their families and enjoy each others company? But therein lies what may very well be the problem... the key problem being 'want a job.' It's unfortunate most of us, the vast majority of these good people, are unable to make their own jobs without relying upon another for employment. But, as an old saying goes, "man is not an island" comes to mind. We cannot isolate ourselves from others and expect to have a good life without sharing both the good and the bad that life invariably offers us. No matter what our station in life is, we still put up with that which we call 'bad'... something 'bad' happens to us all.
But there is also the extreme between the so-called 'good and bad'... the distance between those two sides of the old yin/yang. It's arguable, but persuasive, when our 'good' is reasonably good, i.e. nothing super-wonderful (!), when the opposing side takes it's place as it invariably will, then the 'bad' is no so bad that we can't take it... we can more easily see that opposing side as a lesson that we know we need to learn.
I've often said we, our hu'manity, are learning machines... from our infancy up thru and including our old age we learn. The more we learn, the better individuals we become. But learning also falls into that constant - yin/yang. We learn from them both and the more we recognize each problem we personally encounter is a lesson to be learned, the better we master ourselves.
Unfortunately, many view lessons as not something to be learned but rather a nuisance, a pain in the arse, that would be better ignored than learned. Do this often enough and the lessons become greater and greater until one's ability to gain anything from the lesson(s) overwhelms the pitiful individual and they end up perplexed and feeling some how cheated and taken advantage of when it really is only they who are cheating themselves.
When blame becomes a constant in our lives, using others as excuses for our own inadequacies, our attempt to shift this blame upon others backfires on us. We lose the understanding that it is our own problem... our own lesson to be learned to make us better people. Shifting the problem to others does little to nothing for improving ourselves as most learn at some point in living.
On this path, we must also be on guard to living with blame that we've taken on. Once we discover and learn the origins of blame is when forgiveness is welcome in our lives improving us and hu'mans.
Forgiveness is a counter-reactant to much of the blame being tossed around for so many, by so many, with so many needlessly being blamed. Has forgiveness become but a memory from long ago which we feel is no longer necessary? I sometimes have to wonder... or maybe we fear that, too.
cecil
8.22.2010
Picture of the Week:
[untitled]
for lack of a better name
photo: cecil 7.01.10for lack of a better name
