We live in a culture of blame. All outcomes that we do not like, we can blame them on someone else. If we are able to blame someone else, we do not have to take the credit for the result. If it is not because of us then we have no responsibility. This also means we have no responsibility for the change that is needed. Not only that, but if the outcome is other than we desire or the outcome does not serve, we are not required to make any change in ourselves or what we do.

If this is so, then when outcomes fail to be what we desire or what serves, then since we have no responsibility then we can blame someone else. If, when we assign blame, we investigate and find that blame does not reside there, we can shift the blame to someone else. We can keep doing this serially and none of the blame comes back to us, since we bear no responsibility. From this it can be seen that from the very first opportunity we choose not to accept any responsibility.

Following assignment of blame, usually we have the feeling that others whom we blame should be held accountable for their actions. So we shine the light of accountability on everyone else.

It does turn out however, that events are not unidirectional. They do not start there and move here solely on the basis of what the other person is doing. Events are really interactive. There is some degree of give and take, action and reaction, a literal back and forth. That means always the responsibility is shared because there is action and reaction on both parts forming an interaction.

By accepting the culture of blame, we become powerless to change our experience for we fail to recognize the interactive nature of things. To change our experience we must become responsible for it. If we become responsible then we cannot blame others for it. It this state of responsibility, we can see that we are affected by what others do, but they are not responsible for our outcome. We can choose our response which in turn defines our outcomes. We in that way can shine the light of accountability upon ourselves.

The lesson here is that every outcome in our society is based on this. If our society is to have different outcomes, then we collectively will have to choose different responses which will lead to different outcomes. But, foremost we must accept responsibility and hold ourselves accountable for all of our outcomes.

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