It is often suggested that we live in a society where everything that happens is someone elses fault. Whatever misfortune befalls is it is never us who are to blame, but the system, or the government, or big business, or just the other guy. Many people are under the impression that this is a modern phenomenon, and certainly in the UK it is often the case that people blame America and the propensity to litigation that seems endemic. This again is an example of aportioning blame, and as with most of these cases, is almost certainly incorrect. Historically we have always found scapegoats, found people to blame, and generally it is people whio are "not us". Frequently the blame has escalated to the point of large scale war and destruction, but there is plenty of evidence that we have been blaming each other for a very long time.
One of the clearest examples is found in the witchraft trials that were carried uot throughout the middle ages. A village would be beset by illness, or a farmer would find livestock falliing ill and blame would be attached to someone within the community in the form of accusations of witchcraft. Often this was done to someone who was on the outskirts of the village, removed from the greater community, often with a disability of some sort. We seem to be conditioned to distrust difference, to be wary of the stranger, and to shift blame rather than take responsibility.
If we are to succeed as a species in ever increasing numbers and with ever more scarce resources we are going to be left with no choice but to become more accepting of each other and more understanding of our place in the greater global community. A part of that process will inevitably have to be an understanding that we are all responsible firstly for ourselves, secondly for our families and finally for our communities. We must take ownership of our lives and our actions and for the implications of everything that we say and do.....
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