It's not my fault

I have recently discovered an issue on which fair-minded conservatives and liberals agree; there is a growing and frightening unwillingness in our society to accept responsibility for one's actions. Many seem quite content to blame others for their own errors and omissions. I hardly know whether to start from the top and go to the bottom or vice versa because I see it everywhere and probably everyone I know sees it in me. Let's begin with the Pope since he is not around North Idaho to defend himself and likely will not notice this column. I am not syndicated in Rome - yet.

Does anyone today really believe the Vatican had no knowledge of sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy in the United States? Recently His Holiness apologized for the actions of the few priests who offended against common decency; I am convinced the vast majority of all priests are not pedophiles but true men of God, no matter what one thinks of Catholicism. But the Pope did not, to my knowledge, take responsibility for his own supervisory actions or lack thereof in regard to abuse of young people. I think the Church needs to take a dose of total quality management; members of that august institution need to take responsibility for all of its actions. The very organizational principle behind the Church of Rome, top-down management, demands accountability. But I do not mean to pick overly on the Holy Father. His failure to take full responsibility is merely symbolic of an attitude that has prevailed for quite a while: "It's not my fault."

Presidents are famous for embracing this syndrome. Obama blames Bush for problems and Bush to some extent blamed them on Clinton and on and on ad infinitum. I guess we are supposed to believe the national debt goes all the way back to George Washington and the Father of our Country probably pointed his finger at Franklin and Jefferson.

In Idaho, I have seen governors blaming the Legislature and the Legislature blaming the governor; my wife's cousin, a retired newspaper man himself, says simply, "There is plenty of blame to go around." He also sold us our house so if it falls down, naturally it's his fault.

We don't have much squabbling out here in Hayden for some reason but I sure hear a lot of it from Coeur d'Alene, the land of milk and honey. There is finger pointing about the Education Corridor, the Kroc Center, McEuen Field and the Lake City Development Corp. A friend who died recently said when she pointed a finger at someone else, three pointed back at her. I like that concept.

One extraordinary blame game that annoys me is holding environmentalists responsible for environmental problems; it's as though we would not have heavy metals at the bottoms of our waterways had the Kootenai Environmental Alliance not drawn attention to them. We might call this the Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome; if we only pretend hard enough problems will disappear.

Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote in "Vacillation" the following about responsibility: "Although the summer Sunlight gild/Cloudy leafage of the sky/Or wintry moonlight sink the field/In storm-scattered intricacy, I cannot look thereon/Responsibility so weighs me down." Responsibility does weigh us down; but it is a necessary part of growing up and assuming one's place in the world. As the old commercial said, "Try it. You'll like it." Well, maybe not at first. Later on, admitting our mistakes brings with it maturity. And if you don't take my advice, it's not my fault.

Tim Hunt, the son of a linotype operator, is a retired college professor and nonprofit administrator who lives in Hayden with his wife and three cats. He can be reached at [email protected].