Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Accountability Is Responsibility

"Scholar Viktor Frankl, neurologist and psychiatrist, founder of logo-therapy and one of the key figures in existential therapy, in his book Man's Search for Meaning recommended 'that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast (that has become a symbol of Liberty and Freedom) should be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.' His thought was that 'Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.'"
I have been thinking a whole a lot about accountability. At first it was accountability versus responsibility, then I realize that you can not have accountability without responsibility. There in lies the rub. Many people want greatness and want fame but they do not want to be held accountable or responsible. Thus you get people making up the rules as they go because no one has defined the rules for them. Actually, we in America have the "You're not the boss of me" syndrome. We don't want anyone to question our actions and we want to play by our own made up rules, that we will bend to favor our situations every time.

"Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving" (wikipedia.com)

I remember as a child I would play games and each time I played the game I would make up my own rules and when one of my friends would question me, I would change the game or intimidate them until they backed down from the challenge. I find that in my adult life, I do the same thing. I am good at expressing what I want to say and if someone seems to second guess themselves, I will intimidate them until I get my way. well, of course this causes people to think of me as pushy, mean, unbending and other adjectives, I am sure you can guess. However, as I thought about this the question came to me...Is this what I have called you to be? Did I call you to be an island to yourself? My thoughts flooded with scriptures trying to defend my position. I don't need any one to tell me what I should be doing because I have to "work out my own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12). But when I look at this scripture closer something leaped out to me. Let's look at it briefly:

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:11-13
Okay, now that does not sound like I get to do it my own way. It sounds like I have been taught how to act according to certain guidelines and rules. It sounds like I have a responsibility to God to obey the things I have been taught. Not to go about making my own rules and acting stubborn. If I say that I am a Christian, then I should act accordingly. Christians are not self existing agents. We should have a covering and there should be someone that holds us accountable to do what we have been taught and do what is right in the sight of the Lord. This brings glory to God. So let me ask this...If God is a God of order and he has set certain things in place, such as church authority, why would I consider myself immune to God's ordained hierarchy?

I have friends who tell me that they don't have to go to a church but they can do ministry without a covering. God knows their hearts and they are only accountable to God. On the onset, that sounds good. However, when I read Romans 13:1-2 and Hebrews 13:7, 17, I see that it was never God intention for us not to have a covering. He did not say we have to agree with that covering or even like the covering, however, we are to respect, honor and adhere to (obey) the covering. So, it is my responsibility to be held accountable to those that God has set over me because in actuality they are accountable to Him concerning me.

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." (Romans 13:1-2)


"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation." (Hebrews 13:7)
 "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." (Hebrews 13:17)
So where does my thoughts take me in all this...as I learn how to be obedient to my authorities, I need to also learn submission. I need to understand that God knows who he has set over me and His concern for me is to walk in integrity.  For the bible says, anyone in authority should be on who is blameless, in other words we should be people of accountability not only to authority but to those we serve.
"For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly."(Titus 1:5-6)

 My prayer is that I am blameless and can be held accountable and responsible for the things I say and do. Which means, those that are covering me should call me on the carpet if my actions are questionable. Instead of becoming pushed out of shape and angry, I just need to give an account. In the end hopefully when they are called to give an account about me, they will say, That I was good and faithful and they will say it with joy and not sorrow.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Why Would You Do That?

Some people are dream killers. They get close enough that you will share your ultimate dream and then they pounce. They laugh, smirk or some other hateful thing that makes you feel like crap. You have taken the time to see beyond your circumstance, to see that there may be some sense to this mediocre existence. Now, you feel that your plight in life is less than noble. That sinking feeling you are experiencing is your dream dying.

Most people don't even know that their actions and words have damaged the very core of your existence. They just thought they were keeping it real. Let me ask you this, what is real about saying that I cant accomplish my dreams because it has never been done before. What is real about doubting what I believe gives me meaning. I know these people are trying to help but really sometimes I just want to say, "WHY did you do that?"

I am a dreamer, that means I dream of things in the night. I have visions and they are not small. THEY are HUGE. So, I get it that sometimes my dream and visions may scare you. They scare me sometimes. But I will not allow you to make me feel silly for dreaming. I will not allow you to make me lose sight of who I am. Somethings are just bigger than you and I and if you really think about it, the mere fact that you are here is a miracle. You had never been here before. No one thinks quite like you but no one comes to you and says, You can't exist because you are different. Strange thing is most people like you because you are different.

So, please let me be my unique self and dream a big dream. When i share it with you...Just let me share it. Don't say what you think or feel. Just let the dream live. If it is not meant to be I will get over it sooner or later. Just like I had to learn to crawl then walk...Let me live this out. Remember I only have one life and if you kill my dreams then you are killing who I am. I understand you want to protect me and make sure that I don't go through unnecessary trials and mistakes, but really isn't that a part of life.

Here's the thing, you let me be me and I will not hinder you from being you. then we both can accomplish the best life now. Sound like a plan? Just stop killing my dreams, or I will ask you, "WHY did you do that?"

Andrew M. Manis: When Are WE Going to Get Over It?

cid:7450ADE8-D7F5-4A63-B44C-101699BE2E67Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of history at Macon State College in Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph.
For much of the last forty years, ever since America "fixed" its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, "When are African Americans finally going to get over it?

Now I want to ask:

"When are we White Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?

Recent reports that "Election Spurs Hundreds' of Race Threats, Crimes", "Sarah Palin Says, It's Time To Reload", or Glenn Beck saying, "We All Need To Grab Our Guns And Get Ready", should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in "Bombingham," Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Eventually, as you may recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than "talk the talk."

Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.


We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and United States for some 400 years on this continent. Conservative whites have been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years, conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes. Call for their impeachment, perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator was non-political mental case who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.


But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we're back in the sixties again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we've proven what conservatives are always saying -- that in America anything is possible, EVEN electing a black man as president. But instead we now hear that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to "assassinate Obama." 

Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, "How long?"
How long before we white people realize we can't make our nation, much less the whole world, look like us? 
 
How long until we white people can - once and for all - get over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color?
 
How long until we white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us superior?
 
How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?


How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head of the line merely because of our white skin? How long until we white people end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?

I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners? How long until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do?  


How long before we start "living out the true meaning" of our creeds, both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that "red and yellow, black and white" all are precious in God's sight?

Until November 4, 2008, I didn't believe this country would ever elect an African American to the presidency. I still don't believe I'll live long enough to see us white people get over our racism problem.  
 
But here's my
three-point plan:  
 
First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House that Black Slaves Built, I'm going to pray that God (and the Secret Service) will protect him and his family from us white people.

Second, I'm going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying, in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President Obama.
 
 Third, I'm going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise the world once again, when white people can "in spirit and in truth" sing of our damnable color prejudice,
 
  "We
HAVE overcome."