We're All to Blame, So Let's All Work Together

In today's world we are faced with more problems and challenges than ever before.  Rising unemployment, an economic system that seems horribly unbalanced, an education system with growing achievement gaps, all coupled with our day-to-day troubles.  It's no secret that these are tough times and people are frustrated.  And with frustration comes high stress and a search for relief.  For many of us this relief comes in finding someone to blame for our problems.  Maybe unemployment's so high because of our current tax code and recent economic decisions, perhaps these economic decisions are a result of out-of-control government spending, maybe our schools are failing because our teachers aren't working hard enough; whatever the problem, we can find someone or something to blame.  But where does all this blame get us, other than giving our complaints a focal point?

The truth is, placing the blame on any one person or entity sells the real problem short.  And even more detrimental, it takes us away from what our focus should be in the first place: fixing the problems and making things better.  Let's assume for a moment that all of the blame being tossed around is justified.  The government and Wall Street really are to blame for our financial woes, the public education system is broken and it's its own fault, my neighbor's dog shit on my lawn so everyone's out to get me, it's all true.  Given this, it seems that there is plenty of blame to go around.  None of us is immune from criticism, and therefore, should not be free from responsibility in fixing a very broken country.

As I look at the world around me and have discussions with people in my life, the sentiment is universal that, as a whole, the country is not functioning and people are frustrated.  We are frustrated with a government that can't work together, a school system that ignores the real problems, an entitled population that has been coddled by societal privileges, and we all feel we have a right to something better.  And herein lies the problem.  We all think we have a right to something better, but none of us is willing to take the responsibility to work toward a solution.  Instead we're too focused on finding someone to blame for our problems.

I'd like to challenge us to move past the blaming phase and start working toward solutions.  Let's accept that we have a lot of challenges and that all of us-even YOU AND I-are to blame.  Now that we've accepted this, let's move on to identifying exactly what is wrong and what we can do, as individuals, to affect larger change.  The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is to really listen to each other and hear the concerns being raised by individuals.  When listening to concerns, it's important not to get defensive and instead, really hear the concerns being raised.  If the concern is a broken economic system, what specifically is affecting you?  If education is the problem, what aspect of the process isn't working?  When we break down these larger problems into individual concerns, we can then start working on these smaller components to affect larger change.  This is what grassroots activism is all about.

I truly believe if we start working together at an individual level, this change will lead to the right kind of people being put into office and a government that truly has the best interests of its people in mind.  We can't expect the people in charge to understand our concerns if we don't even understand them ourselves.  By working with each other, we can start the wheels of change that are going to fix a severely damaged system.  So let's stop blaming each other and start working together to truly "be the change we want to see in this world."

...Now, if after reading this you still feel the need to blame others, may as well make like these people and take it to the top, right?