I believe in the statement that says without a vision the people perish. I also believe it is important to remember our eyes need to adjust so our vision remains clear. As we process new and different information our eyes seamlessly adjust our vision. Whether it’s because we’re switching our focus from something in the distance to an item up close or they are adjusting because of the changing degree of light; without proper re-vision, we risk not seeing everything as we should.

There is a lot going on in our country right now.  We use the phrase, “hindsight is always 2020” and we often make statements which imply the importance of having “2020 vision”. These statements are normally used to communicate the importance of clarity.  It’s somewhat ironic that the year 2020 seems to be chaotic and more unfocused.  As I make that statement am reminded of a quote attributed to the grandson of Sigmund Freud. He referenced that giving up smoking does not make you live longer it just seems longer.  So borrowing from that mindset; are things truly more chaotic or does lack of clarity make things seem more chaotic?

King Solomon wrote a few thousand years ago that “there’s nothing new under the sun”.  One way we use this phrase in our modern-day vernacular is “the more things change the more things stay the same”.  It’s easy for me to have a knee-jerk reaction and say that things are more chaotic and disorderly.  If I take a moment, sit back, and attempt to view our current situation with clarity, I’m not so sure the aforementioned sentiment about chaos is accurate. Our society, in fact the world has always had people who don’t behave responsibly. Their irresponsible and careless behavior will always yield situations one would rather not deal with.  Not wanting to deal with an issue, whether it’s a situation we created or by someone, helps invite the opportunity for assigning blame.  Placing blame is a story that is literally as old as the first two people who ever walked the earth.  No matter what your religious beliefs may be, most people are aware of the story of Adam and Eve. Most people are aware of them eating the forbidden fruit.  What you may not be aware of is after they ate the fruit, Adam tried to pass the buck.  He blamed Eve and then he even blamed God.  He flatly refused to take responsibility for his actions.  Adam said, “it was this woman that You gave me”.  Before we jump up and down on Adam, Eve wasn’t any better because she blamed the serpent.  Thus the “blame game” began and has continued ever since.  You don’t have to believe this story is literally true or believe in God to believe in the concept of consequences for our actions.  There were consequences for all the parties involved. In the grand scheme of things we are all going to be held responsible for what we either do or don’t do. God told each of them specifically what the outcome for their actions were going to be. All three individuals were culpable and although they didn’t want to take responsibility, they were still forced to face accountability.

I’ve said in other settings that blame is about looking back but taking responsibility is about moving forward.  Blame gives you the opportunity to point the finger at others; taking full responsibility not only accepts our personal role in the situation but it also moves forward with the appropriate corrective action. The corrective action is how we show our willingness to be held accountable. It may be a “chicken or the egg” scenario in terms of which comes first, but a lack of consequences and accountability most certainly fosters a lack of vision which begets chaos.  As a Christian I know it’s unrealistic to expect the blame game will ever stop this side of heaven. That does not absolve us from striving to improve, ensuring we maintain clear vision and fall on the responsibility side of the blame vs. responsibility equation.