Watching the news and scrolling through social media lately, it has essentially been a blame game. People are blaming other people for violence, for not understanding violence, for looting, for not understanding the root causes of looting, for not being peaceful in their protests, for expecting more peaceful protests when they’ve already beed tried and ignored, for staying quiet, for speaking up….it’s endless. And it got me thinking about a video I saw a while back about blame and how toxic it can be. For those of you who don’t know her, Brené Brown is a phenomenal speaker and author. I have included a link to the article that went with the video below because it reiterates the fact that “blaming gives us some semblance of control” and that “blame is the discharging of discomfort and  pain”. You see now why I thought of this video, yes?

The vast majority of the country is living in discomfort or pain right now. We are overwhelmed by the coronavirus, the economy, politics, relationships, communication, even something normally as simple as finding groceries. There are very few outlets for us to feel ‘normal’ and even the things that do fit the bill are still different as we walk by people in masks, stand six feet apart, and pick up groceries going down the aisles one way searching for lysol, bleach, baking supplies, and toilet paper.

Thinking about laying blame, and how we blame, and why we blame is a difficult thing to do right now. It’s inconvenient for some, infuriating for others, and some people think they don’t do it because they don’t see it in themselves until someone points it out. But we all do it so it’s important that we think about it. That all of us think about it and the role we play in placing blame on ourselves and others.