When things go wrong who is to blame?

Perhaps, among the sins of humanity, none can be as dominant as failure to take responsibility. When the raging tempest harassed the boat amid the sea, Jesus was fast asleep. The disciples considered Jesus as the only hope for their survival. Rather than take responsibility for handling a problematic situation, they ran to wake Jesus up, from His deeply sound sleep. The most interesting part in that episode is Jesus’ response, rather than His esoteric rebuke of the winds.

Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm (Matthew 8:24-26 NIV).

In their helplessness, the disciples found Jesus responsible for the problematic condition. In other words, they blamed Jesus rather than take responsibility. However, by castigating them for lacking faith, Jesus revealed their condition of irresponsibility. When fully explored, the idea of blaming others when things go wrong comes from the devil, rather than from God.

A child appears justified or warranted when blaming the parents for their inability to provide him with a good education. The child uses that as a good reason for engaging in criminal activities. Meanwhile, the parents would also be blaming a corrupt government system for having caused their failure to provide good education to their children. A corrupt governing system would, instead, blame sanctions, rather than blame voters, who facilitated the installation of a corrupt government.

Typical of any condition of failure, there would always be something to blame for not achieving the required results. Taking responsibility is a virtue that should be regarded as necessary for survival, regardless of circumstances. The mineral resources are way below the person’s value, when aware of taking responsibility for one’s surroundings. See [Knowledge is more important than Gold].

Only the deranged people would assume that there would be safety in blaming others for unacceptable situations. If one gets into a vehicle being driven by a drunkard, leading to an accident, who takes the blame?  Common sense dictates that taking responsibility means avoiding ineptitude or risking being driven by a drunkard. Humans are different from animal species.

A rhino horn is an effective weapon against predators. Some animals survive by speed in running, to avoid being caught by predators. Birds rely on flying, to avoid being caught by ground enemies. It is often in the area of ineptitude that occasionally such birds become food for their predators, equipped with hunting skills. Hence, the game of wildlife is sustained by the survival of the fittest.

Fitness, in this context, is not necessarily about physical strength but refers to dexterity and quickness in thinking. This is how a lion wins against the strong and bigger animals. A lion knows when to attack and when not to attack a highly defensive predator. Only humans are capable of interpreting such skills in defining the handling of survival challenges. The aptitude to observe both weaknesses and strengths in animal behaviours reveals the superiority connected with human abilities.

The only weapon designed for humanity is reasoning. One can be uneducated, but when aware of reasoning mechanisms; one carries the capacity to handle problematic conditions of survival. Hence, Jesus castigated His disciples for lacking faith. The disciples had not been aware of their inherent capabilities. Generally, cowardice is the one that caused them to be unaware of what human capabilities entailed.

Jesus insinuated that their problem resulted from the condition of lacking faith. This suggested that human failures emanated from carelessness. This is different from those always assuming that God is impressed by those blaming Him for wrong conditions in one’s environment. Such people proudly call themselves “prayer warriors”, when swimming in such myriads of stupidity.

This should not be construed as invalidating prayer, whose sole purpose is to facilitate good reasoning. Human abilities are enhanced when aware of being God’s children. In other words, failures are caused by separation from God, in whose image the person was created. Succumbing to failure is as wicked as assuming that God, in whose image the person was created, is a failure.

Blaming others for failure to achieve intended results should be regarded as the stupidest condition of all time. The only weapon available to humanity is his ability to reason. How effective in using one’s weapon depends solely on avoiding blaming others. Once in a while, such a person gets into problems but learns great lessons from such problems.

“What did I do wrong to get into this mess?” is often the question that wise people ask when emerging from despicable conditions. They avoid blaming anyone, except adopting better solutions for future experiences. The effectiveness of the mind enables the person to approach effective ideas from across the world. Cursed is a nation that is bereft of innovative people.

Information is available from everywhere. However, it is only a wise person who selects workable information directly from the source. This world is not the source except being the effect of the author of the entire universe. When ignoring the source, one swims with crocodiles, whilst dealing with pretenders.

Through reasoning power, humans can perceive how impossible it is for a lion to confront two buffalos. The lion simply takes advantage of the cowardice displayed by brute animals. The other buffalo decides to run away, leaving its fellow buffalo at the mercy of the lion. The escaping buffalo would have no conscience to consider its behaviour to be a betrayal of trust.

The brutish behaviour affects humans into seemingly insurmountable challenges. Currently, President Emerson Mnangagwa is blamed for causing the embarassing Zimbabwean problems. The prime accusation is that he elevated himself to power through the 2017 military coup. However, that is untrue, if not nonsensical.  The recorded historical information bears gigantic marches having facilitated the installation of President Mnangagwa.

Where was the reasoning capacity of the marchers? Previously, Mugabe and his wife Grace had been blamed for running down the economy. But Mugabe’s historical existence had been sustained by zealots, behaving worse than brute buffalos, failing to confront a solitary lion. The majority of such people regarded themselves as dedicated Christians.

They committed themselves to praying for Robert Mugabe, although Mugabe displayed dishonesty, on the ground. This could not have been the case with little reasoning, from those masses. Hence, wisdom cannot be obtainable from the masses, but from God. The prayer warriors could do well when aware of this reality, enabling the ability to identify with God in their personalities.

Lacking faith is a condition of ignorance of the significance of God’s image. The reasoning capacity stems from Godliness. Jesus was not daydreaming when castigating His disciples for lacking faith to handle the raging tempest. With faith, as little as a mustard seed, those disciples could not depend on Jesus. They could handle any problematic situation to save their lives and others.

Generally, problems are considered to be caused by other people rather than by those lamenting powerlessness. Other people’s failures emanate from the lamenting people’s failures to communicate. If indeed, aware of the significance of responsibility, the lamenting person influences others to behave responsibly.

Human problems emanate from introversion, rather than from extroversion. The worst criminal activities are committed by those emerging from considered religious communities. Police duties are often limited to arresting identified offenders, without questioning the behaviour of offending person’s neighbours.

Those Criminals, developing into becoming hardcore, can be pinned on irresponsibility projected by those criminals’ respective communities. Nobody is a born criminal in this world, except being nurtured by an introverted society. The term: ‘mind your own business’ is assumed to be normal, when being the most abnormal expression on this planet. Everyone wrongly views other people’s problems to be unrelated to him/her.

This world becomes saner, when minding other people’s businesses, rather than when introverted into only minding one’s own business. This is not a suggestion of prying into other people’s lives but expressing willingness to listen to other people’s problems. Many problems could have been resolved at their budding stages, had there been willing listeners.

Even serial murderers would have initially sought to be listened to, before committing such heinous crimes. One longs to find a community dedicated to handling community problems, rather than self-centered problems. Amazingly, in our African communities, we find people who are more cooperative in funeral activities rather than in activities of livingness.

One could battle with some illness, for years, without being able to share his condition with anyone. It would only be at his funeral that eulogies from afar people emerge, showing deep solidarity with the deceased person. Some people would have travelled long distances, attending such funerals, but without having spoken to the then-dead person, for years, before his death.

No other incredible hypocrisy can be exhibited more than at funeral ceremonies. It seems as if, to most people, death is more important than human life. The dead would not even be aware of people displaying such solidarity at their funerals. Everything would be classically designed as a showoff, rather than true love.

Cultural traditions are commonly valued by most people. The detestable state of cultural traditions is their propensity to suspend a reasoning capacity. The culture of availing oneself at funerals, rather than at times of facing problems before the person’s death, classifies such wickedness. People are warm to such traditions but display ineptitude more than reasoning.

The best cultural traditions that could have been adopted are those identifying with problems in the person’s time of need, before death. Good excuses can be rampant for not having attended to such a person’s problems but sustained in unreasonableness. All problems of this world emanate from the culture of minding one’s business.

While one could spot ethical conduct in Smith’s regime, before independence, the culture of introversion spoiled everything. Smith’s governmental structures were generally more accountable than the current. But unbeknown to most whites was the false assumption that being born white meant being superior to blacks. The colour of one’s skin does not describe a racial condition, except describing the introvert condition. The considered privileges accorded to whites generated a cause for waging a senseless armed struggle.

Nevertheless, the senseless war of liberation was waged on the pretext that the blacks were prejudiced. From such a viewpoint can be concluded that the idea of introversion was the real reason for waging the destructive liberation struggle. Whipping black people’s emotions became very easy. Such blacks observed the white lifestyles to be better than those of their black counterparts.

Smith’s developmental programs were indeed, better, when observed from a sane person’s viewpoint. However, such programs were only spoilt by the white community’s condition of introversion. The definition of introversion is inward-looking, rather than outward-looking. Humanity loses everything, at the point of inward-looking, similar to how brute buffaloes lose the battle at the point of inward-looking.

The buffalo that runs away leaving its fellow buffalo at the mercy of a predator would be concerned about its survival.  Such a behaviour is not determined from reasoning how introversion would help the escapee when having to confront enemies without support from colleagues. The white people traditionally carried false data, suggesting that being white implied being superior to their black counterparts.

Scientifically, for a problem to have a structural condition of being a problem, it has to contain a lie. One can safely conclude that the Zimbabwean problems emanated from the falsehood that being born white was racially designed to be advantageous. A person can be as good as able to initiate a culture that has an impact on other people’s livelihoods. The introversion culture is as wicked as having produced current conditions in Zimbabwe.

Human beings can be described as cultural animals. Culture can either be good or bad. It takes a freed person with a reasoning capacity to desist from adopting a bad culture. Blacks were disadvantaged by the white man’s traditional culture of introversion. But the same blacks envied the introverted white community’s conditions of living. At independence in 1980, it was fashionable for black people to copy the white man’s introverted behaviour. This is exactly what led Zimbabwe to the currently prevailing conditions.

No other theory can be said to accurately describe the current Zimbabwean condition, better than introversion theory. The problems of humanity are generally centred on ideas of introversion, more than reasoning.  When things go wrong, the starting point is questioning what one failed to do, or what one did, to cause the existing problem.

Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing relief to those having witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. Most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope, in a simple conversational tone.

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