Sunday, May 11, 2008 Luab: The blaming game By Evelyn R. Luab light sunday
EVEN as early as in the book of Genesis, the blaming game was started.
Adam said, “It was Eve who gave me the apple.” Eve said, “It was the serpent who told me to eat it.”
If that scenario occurred today, our very philosophical young ones would say, “It was God’s fault for putting an apple tree in the Garden of Eden. No apple, no sin!
Kindergarten teachers are so used to hearing this statement, “He started it first,” after a boxing bout has been stopped.
Collisions usually bring out statements like this: “He suddenly stopped in front of me so I bumped into him.” Usually, there is no mention of the fact that the culprit was tailing the front car too close for comfort.
When we were yet in high school, there was a time when we had to start classes after Christmas on a Monday. We pleaded and cajoled our mentors to allow us to come back on a Wednesday because the Tuesday following that Monday was a holiday, being the Feast of the Three Kings. Back then, the Epiphany meant no classes.
However, the school and the teachers were unmoved. We were told to come back on a Monday.
One great teacher, however, in a joke and with eyes twinkling, told us: “Oh well, if all of you are not here, whom do we teach?” Taking our cue from that statement, my class, did not come back that particular Monday. The following Wednesday, all of us were called to the parlor to face our directress. Of course we pointed to that one great teacher, who, in fairness to her, admitted that she did say it but it was meant as a joke, not to start a rebellion of sorts. We were properly sanctioned and given a lecture on owning our mischief and not passing the blame on someone else.
Today, many of the things that are going wrong in our country can be blamed on nobody else but ourselves.
There is a complaint that the number of rape cases is on the rise. Can you please take a look at how a great number of our young girls dress (or undress?). You see very short shorts. Short blouses show the belly button. Spaghetti straps bare the upper portion and a lot of cleavage is shown! Our young ladies think nothing is amiss when they go into a dark alley or when they deliberately pass by a group of men who are in the middle of a drinking spree.
We get the kind of officials we have because we sell our votes. We blame everything on the government, including the flash floods when in fact we cut our trees and do not replant.
We keep on complaining about our lack of water yet we waste our water through leaks in the faucets. We even forget to turn off our faucets when we wash our clothes or when we lather ourselves during bath time.
We blame El Niño or La Niña for our poor harvests when in truth, we have left the poor uneducated farmers to wallow in their misery because we take things for granted.
We have become an unthinking people, unmindful of the plight of our neighbor. Just take a look around you on weekends, especially on Sundays. We have plenty of plushy restaurants, old and new.
These places are teeming with people. I’m not saying one should not go out and enjoy with the family. No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying, however, is this: “Do you think of how you can help feed a hungry mouth as Sunday after Sunday you splurge on dishes galore to feed people who already have much at home?” If we have become this callous to the plight of our neighbor then we will have no one else to blame when people die of hunger. As early as when Jesus walked the earth, He said: “Feed my people!”
