The Security of Blame

The other morning my tractor would not start. Okay, so it would turn over, but not quite fast enough to start. So, if the battery was not so old or the alternator would charge it better, then possibly it would have not been depleted so far by leaving the key on. Now, this tractor may not be your ordinary tractor, and for sure it does not operate like my truck. My truck now, it’s simple. You turn the key off and the motor turns off. All simple, no need to forget to turn the key off unless of course you forget and leave the motor running all night. See, if whoever designed this tractor would have followed the normal protocol, like my vehicles, there would not have been a chance I could have forgotten to turn the key off. But, they didn’t. They actually made it somewhat complicated to start. To start, the one shift lever which I seldom use has to be in neutral. Not high or low but halfway in between. This is for safety of course, not difficult to understand. Then on the left side the little black knob must be pushed in if you want it to start while cranking. And then the key must be turned all the way to the right for the motor to turn over, and if you have remembered to push the little black knob in, and not forgotten the key on, and there is fuel in the tank, it should start. However, you only need to pull out the black knob to shut it off, and the key can be forgotten. Hence the need for the battery charger. Well, would you know, this morning the key was left on again, only this time the battery was not depleted.

If the tractor company would have designed it differently, like normal I would not keep forgetting to turn the key off. Second best would be if they had a buzzer to remind you when the key is on while the motor is not running. At least that is how a vehicle works. I suppose they wanted to keep their budget down when they built it so the took the cheapest way possible. Because of the poor design it’s really not my fault that I failed to turn the key off. But wait a minute; I could be kept fuming about why they made it that way and how they could improve the design, but in the meantime, I need to start the tractor to get my work done.

For some reason we think if we can blame something or someone, we are less responsible.

It may be there is a sense of security and disconnect of responsibility in blame.

We tend to blame circumstances, or people, or our childhood, parents or children, trying to alleviate our own stress and humanness. How many people go throughout their life blaming. It becomes a way of life. We even blame ourselves for honest mistakes that we make in ignorance or someone else’s problems! Suppose we quit blaming all together? Would the world fall apart? What would happen? I believe it would be really amazing! Blame is only an attempt to place the responsibility that I do not want to take, on someone or something else. Blame will not set one free, and seeks to circumvent change, keeping us in bondage. Some clarification here would be in place.  Responsibility is different than blame. Responsibility places the facts of what happened with the guilty party, whereas blame is more of a of personal shift of responsibility, accusing someone or something . There are times we assume responsibility for things that our not our fault, and responsibility needs to be placed where it belongs, but that is another whole topic in itself. We are focusing on the act of blaming someone for something that directly or indirectly affects me. Blame in this sense invokes the stirring of our emotions as well as fault finding and criticism.

To often, blame is used to justify our actions. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.

Genesis 3:11-13

The story is told of two brothers who had an alcoholic father. The one was a successful business man while the other was an alcoholic like his father. When the sons were asked about their position in life, their reply was the same; because of their father. One had purposed that he did not want the same life he had grown up with, while the other felt he had no choice considering his upbringing and circumstances. All of us will have some reason to blame in our lives, but it can make us either bitter or better, depending on our attitude. God is really the only one who can take us needy humans and turn our neediness into something positive.

Then there is the story about the little boy who disobeyed his parents by crawling through the hole in the fence to the neighbor’s yard. He said he was tempted to look through the hole but the devil pushed him through. In this case had he not yielded to the temptation to look, there would have been no occasion to blame.

A proud heart blames to protect its image, while a humble heart takes responsibility for its mistakes and uses them to grow into a better person.

There is something about this verse that seems so refreshing. There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. Ecclesiastes 2:24

 Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom. Proverbs 13:10

 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22