The blame game
They jostle each other (Joel 2:8)
Have you ever played the blame game? This is a very simple game playable by any number of players in any context. It is so easy to understand that it is playable by anyone from about 5 and older. The rules are as follows. As soon as anything goes wrong look for someone to blame.
It's a great family game, played the world over. 'We haven't got any milk. Who forgot to buy some?', 'I'm not responsible for the shopping, you are', 'You dropped by the corner shop on the way home to get some crisps. Didn't you think about asking if we needed anything else?' As you can see the permutations can be endless and the opportunities to play are everywhere.
It's often played at work. When a football team loses a few games in a row, it's instantly the manager's fault and he (almost always 'he') has to go. When someone doesn't hit their targets, or gets an order wrong, the solution is to blame them and instantly everyone feels better. Or do they?
It has it's advantages. A complex and subtle problem is made simple. Blame someone, get rid of them and everything will be better. This is even true often enough to justify those who like to play it. Getting someone better at the job will provide a solution in the short term. Sadly in the long term it may well hide the real problem, training, the market, the task portfolio and so on. In a family it's a disaster. It creates ill-feeling and fear. In the blame game, no one takes a risk in case they get blamed for getting things wrong, or they become addicted to risk because it breaks them out of the cycle, or they just leave. And the actual problem is never properly addressed, because it is so much easier to blame someone than to find a creative solution.
Sadly, we are exposed to it at a national level every day. It could be said that our very political system is a kind of blame game. What else is the opposition for other than to catch the government out in getting it wrong? Well rather a lot. Holding those in public office to account is not about blame but about responsibility. It is exposing what has gone wrong and providing better solutions. There may, indeed will, be politicians whose character and behaviour is not appropriate for public office, and the opposition may have a part in exposing it, but it is not their job.
For Joel it is a sign of a destructive force that they 'jostle each other'. They are falling over themselves to achieve a single purpose, their numbers are so great. As we seek to oppose our own destructive invasion, let us cease to jostle each other, let us stop playing the blame game and seek creative solutions. Analysis of decisions is necessary, but in order to find better solutions in the future, not to find a scapegoat. And not just in politics, but also in town and city, village and hamlet, home and workplace, church and school, let's cease to play the blame game.
Have you ever played the blame game? This is a very simple game playable by any number of players in any context. It is so easy to understand that it is playable by anyone from about 5 and older. The rules are as follows. As soon as anything goes wrong look for someone to blame.
It's a great family game, played the world over. 'We haven't got any milk. Who forgot to buy some?', 'I'm not responsible for the shopping, you are', 'You dropped by the corner shop on the way home to get some crisps. Didn't you think about asking if we needed anything else?' As you can see the permutations can be endless and the opportunities to play are everywhere.
It's often played at work. When a football team loses a few games in a row, it's instantly the manager's fault and he (almost always 'he') has to go. When someone doesn't hit their targets, or gets an order wrong, the solution is to blame them and instantly everyone feels better. Or do they?
It has it's advantages. A complex and subtle problem is made simple. Blame someone, get rid of them and everything will be better. This is even true often enough to justify those who like to play it. Getting someone better at the job will provide a solution in the short term. Sadly in the long term it may well hide the real problem, training, the market, the task portfolio and so on. In a family it's a disaster. It creates ill-feeling and fear. In the blame game, no one takes a risk in case they get blamed for getting things wrong, or they become addicted to risk because it breaks them out of the cycle, or they just leave. And the actual problem is never properly addressed, because it is so much easier to blame someone than to find a creative solution.
Sadly, we are exposed to it at a national level every day. It could be said that our very political system is a kind of blame game. What else is the opposition for other than to catch the government out in getting it wrong? Well rather a lot. Holding those in public office to account is not about blame but about responsibility. It is exposing what has gone wrong and providing better solutions. There may, indeed will, be politicians whose character and behaviour is not appropriate for public office, and the opposition may have a part in exposing it, but it is not their job.
For Joel it is a sign of a destructive force that they 'jostle each other'. They are falling over themselves to achieve a single purpose, their numbers are so great. As we seek to oppose our own destructive invasion, let us cease to jostle each other, let us stop playing the blame game and seek creative solutions. Analysis of decisions is necessary, but in order to find better solutions in the future, not to find a scapegoat. And not just in politics, but also in town and city, village and hamlet, home and workplace, church and school, let's cease to play the blame game.
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| Thames in full flood, Abingdon Lock, winter 2012 |
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