Coaching a Manipulative Caterpillar

Today, the day after the Super bowl, I come into work and all I keep hearing about is how "The Saints cheated." Now, I'm not one to necessarily follow football, but I know enough to know that the Saints sure as hell did not cheat. That game was won based on the performances of the players. I will say that the referees called a fair game and I will say that even the concept of the Saints cheating, personally cracks me up. Though the game was intense, and fair, there are those Colts fans that still try to pass the blame onto someone else. We're all guilty of this at one point in our lives. Why do we do this? The answer is simple: It's easier to blame someone else for our mistakes, than to actually own up.

Like I said, I'm not crazy about football however, the outcome managed to bring out one very good point that I have yet to cover in this blog. It starts when we are children, and like a dandelion (which mind you, is in fact a weed), it sprouts and blossoms through our lives...blame. We lie, we ignore facts, we push what we do on other people in order to get out of trouble. Several centuries ago, a "witchcraft craze" swept over Europe from the 1300s to the late1600s. Many "witches", mostly women, were executed on the belief that they were possessed by the devil or that they were in fact, witches. If a person was accused of being a witch, they were sentenced to being tested, by very unethical ways might I add, in order to prove their innocence. The only way a person could get out of being executed was to accuse someone else for being a witch or admitting to your crime and repenting for your evil ways (which resulted, regardless, in a loss of respect for your name). Now, let's say you're a farmer during this time and someone accuses you of being a witch. Now, to determine whether or not you are a witch, they might sentence you to death by crushing (piling large boulders upon your body until you are quite literally crushed to death, or until you accuse someone else of being a witch). How would you react? Sure you might be bad ass like Giles-Corey, but chances are, you'll falsely accuse your neighbor, Richard of being a witch for the random death of your favorite sheep last week.

It's easy to give up and pass the blame onto someone else, however is that necessarily fair? Is it right? Talking about it, the answer seems clear. Of course it is wrong to falsely accuse someone else. Naturally, we should tell the truth because eventually, it will catch up with us. However, what would you do if you were threatened of being killed unless you blame someone else? What would you really do if a heavy rock was resting upon your chest and the only way to get out of this mess was to accuse someone else of the crime? It is wrong to pass blame upon someone else, but once again (my absolute favorite kind of people), hypocrites must first evaluate the situation before they answer. Now, I will admit that if my life was threatened, I can not honestly say that I would do the noble thing. Under those circumstances, I don't know if I would be able to admit my crime or blame someone else. All I'm saying is that it would be wrong to blame someone else and ruin their lives. Why not make a stand? It's just something to think about, I suppose.

Of course, it might kill us to make the right decision. And sure, we might have some strong consequences to face by admitting to our faults however, we become stronger people by telling the truth. It's easier to lose a game and blame one player or blame a referee. It's easier to blame your neighbor. We become wiser by owning up to mistakes and correcting them instead of ignoring them. As we're lying under the boulders, we shouldn't give in and blame someone for our mistakes. While under the rocks, admitting defeat and blaming someone else will only add "more weight".

A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
-John Burroughs