A & A

Accountability and accusations are two words that never seem far from each other.  America has a incredible culture of accusation, litigation, and then accountability through one’s pocketbook which England is trying to imitate.  The amount of litigation defies comprehension.  It is as if there is a price that can be made to hold everyone accountable for the loss of anything and everything.  Ironically it all starts with an accusation.
 
Accusations are not the private world of lawyers and those seeking big riches from some deep pockets.  In many parts of our lives anytime something good wrong somebody or something must be accountable!  We couldn’t possibly be a fault, so a accusation is born.  Simple failures to communicate have a single source, despite always having two people involved.  This is found in the confusion over the meaning of word in a language where the number of words is measured in tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of words.  It is in the sense of loss found when a hand gesture is misunderstood.  It is even sourced in the ways our bodies move, or in some cases don’t.
 
Challenges are found on many fronts.  When a car accident happened I would never say I am sorry at the scene for fear of others thinking I was accountable.  I may be tired but this could never have any influence on my behavior, conversation, or tone of voice.  When deadlines approach and pass, obviously we were dependant on another, otherwise why would we miss the cut?   
 
When Jesus made an observation “some Pharisees overheard him and said, ‘Does that mean you're calling us blind?’
 
Jesus said, ‘If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you're accountable for every fault and failure.’”  (John 9.40, 41) 
 
There is a line, sometimes thin and occasionally wide, between playing defense and seeing yourself clearly in the mirror.  It may hurt to take off the blinders but healing, progress, and opportunities abound in the move.  Today is full of each, with and without accusations.