Who Let The Cell Phone In?

Who let the cell phone in? An interesting question that raises an even larger one: when will people learn to take responsibility for their own actions? In recent polls many Iraqi’s blame the United States for the sectarian violence plaguing their nation. The French and English are blaming the Muslims for altering their cultures. The Americans are blaming Latinos for altering American politics and their way of life. Hamas blames Fatah and both blame Israel for the woes in Gaza and Lebanon. North Korea blames the U.S. for its nuclear program and we all blame the oil companies for high gas prices. We blame the Sudanese government for the atrocities in Darfur and who knows who the Sudanese blame?

Even in the American education system finger pointing has become a way of life. Poor standard test results are blamed on the teachers. The lack of student interest and enthusiasm for an education is blamed on the parents and everyone loves to blame school administrators for just about everything. Of course, no one blames the students for anything; they are just the victims of the teachers, parents and administrators.

The public blames big business for global warming. Of course big business denies global warming even exists. We blame poor nations for cutting down rain forests but enjoy the lumber produced. We blame the auto industry for air quality issues and smog but we keep buying their cars. We abhor children working in sweat shops but love the prices.

We complain about junk food but business is booming at fast food establishments. Our children are obese but we keep the fatty foods on the table. We are concerned about drug abuse but have no issue with the daily commercial onslaught of ads promoting pills for everything. Children are hyper and yet the soda keeps flowing. Students cannot read or write and yet computer chatting is at an all time high. We are concerned about violence so let’s buy more “kill’em all” video games.

We blame the “devil” when we are bad. It is certainly not our fault if we have been had. The right is blamed for wars; the left for high taxes. We got dealt a bad hand or got a bad rap. It was where we grew up or went to school. Our parents were divorced, we were poor; we were well off; wrong side of the track; bad luck; wrong crowd; had ADD or some other DD; the government said it was okay; the TV said it would work; or our friends forced us into it.

There is always someone or something else to blame other than ourselves or our own actions. Genetics, history, drugs, booze, religion, social or economic status, politics, race or appearance have all been offered up as excuses for our actions or inactions. The day we take responsibility for our life is the day we will proclaim, “Free at last …” So who let the cell phone in? Does it really matter in the total scheme of things?