President Harry S. Truman was known for having a sign on his desk that said "The buck stops here". It was his way of saying that he would take responsibility for what came to him and not "pass the buck" to someone else. Maybe you've noticed it, too. There is a whole lot of "passing the buck" in today's culture. Every one has an excuse why "It's not my fault!".
I once heard a definition of an excuse as "A lie disguised as a reason". Sounds kind of harsh, but how often do we offer an excuse when we should just take responsibility?
We are often willing to forgive ourselves for something we wouldn't
let someone else off the hook for. Or we blame someone else for our own response to something that they did. It seems people are more motivated to get out of responsibility than to accept it.
There used to be an accepted standard for right and wrong and everyone knew that doing the right thing was the most important thing. If we examine ourselves we still know what is right and wrong. It's called a conscience and our Creator made us that way. We've learned to ignore that voice because sometimes doing the right thing can be really hard. So we pass the buck and make it someone or something else's fault that we don't do it or someone else's job to do it. We've all got excuses. I'm talking to myself as well!
We each have a tendency toward certain weaknesses, but we can never use that as an excuse for not doing what is right. It may be harder for some of us than others to do what is right in certain situations because of our natural bent, but the decision to do the right thing regardless of our natural bent is always up to us.
I'm through passing the buck. What about you? "The buck stops here"
