Richard Kyte: Let’s put an end to culture of blame | Columnists

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Richard Kyte

An overlooked benefit of growing up in a large extended family is that you have many examples of ways to live — or not to live.

One elderly relation in particular liked to complain about things. Going to visit her meant exposure to a litany of things wrong with the world. She didn’t much care for her neighbor, the grocery store clerk, her pastor, the potholes on her street or the hippies rumored to have passed through town.

I thought she must live in a terrible place, and I was glad not to live in a town like hers, where everybody was always lying, and cheating, and trying to find ways to hurt you.

As I got older, I realized things were worse than that. She took the terrible place with her wherever she went.

There are plenty of people like that today, and sometimes I worry I might be turning into one of them. It’s hard not to. There are so many conversations taking place with people blaming one another for things that one is tempted to just give up and join the party — the party of blame.

The people who belong to that party are the ones who walk around with a black cloud hanging over their heads, cutting off the light and obscuring their own vision. When you try to point out that things are not as bad as they say, they look at you as if you are nuts. Can’t you see how dark things are? It’s self-evident.

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