When things go wrong, people immediately look around to see who/what is to blame, everyone starts pointing fingers and creating alibis. No matter what happens it must always be somebody’s “fault.” Ironically it is the opposite when something goes great, hands are raised to claim the credit, shouts of “Me”, “My idea”, “I did it!” This is partially why the entire legal system exists… it’s all about deciding who takes the blame/credit for what happened or pre-deciding who will take it if x, y, & z happen… Or who is responsible for what and what is tied to it- who gets the credit, who carries the responsibility? They try to foresee all of the potential outcomes and define ownership & responsibility and set up preventative measures. But life isn’t very predictable so there is a lot of sorting through the mess after the fact. And where people are concerned, there’s always “human error” and several versions to each story. The justice system is deeper than just figuring who everyone can agree to point their finger at… people want justice in the form of punishment/penalty so the guilty must suffer as the afflicted. For example, take that horrible situation with the Fort Hood shooting. It was an absolute tragedy. But it is not enough to point fingers and blame the crazy shooter who was unstable in so many ways and took his own life, which may have been the punishment had he survived anyway. But that’s not enough- everyone wants to keep pointing fingers and blame others who merely knew or worked with the shooter, people want to continue to punish others so they can feel vindicated for their loss. Looking back it’s easy to say what somebody could have done to prevent the problem, but how were they to know? How can they be responsible? And where do you draw the line between what somebody could have done verses what they should have done? This example is a bit extreme but I have seen it in simple situations as well. We all do it, we blame and we punish and we deny and we claim. It may just be the way we are, the way the world runs, it’s part of choice and accountability and the plan of agency. But just because something is determined in court doesn’t mean that it is true, and just because you get away with something doesn’t mean it was ok. We are all guilty and accused and innocent and accusatory at various times and situations. So when it comes to the ridiculous squabbles over who’s to blame… you know it could have been you so you ask yourself, Can I really blame them?
