There is an old family story about my great-grandfather, W. H. Veal, working around the farm with his older siblings. The family gave him a nickname–H’chee Bill (my phonetic attempt at the name—I never saw written.) As the story goes, when any sibling failed to do a chore, or did a poor job of one, H’chee Bill was blamed for the blunder. No one would take the blame—their answer always was, “H’chee Bill did it!” It didn’t take Grandpa Nathan, long to catch on. One day upon hearing again, “H’chee Bill did it!” —-Grandpa defended little H’chee Bill. “Well!” he said, “It sounds to me like H’chee Bill is the only one around here that ever does anything!”A solid affirmation of H’chee Bill!
There is actually a psychological term for behavior, such as H’chee Bill’s siblings; it is called Diffusion of responsibility[” —unwilling, or refusing to take responsibility. There may be a molecule of that in everyone—I know there have been times when I wish I could have said, “H’chee Bill did it!” Claiming your error, or misjudgment takes courage; it takes even more courage, the larger the blunder.
I stand in awe of someone who, when faced with an embarrassing debacle—especially if it is ruinous to people and/or property—owns responsibility. News media thrive on mistakes, blunders, and, well, anything bad. “If it bleeds, it leads.!” is often attributed to Adolph Ochs, a leading American newspaper publisher of a bygone era. The blinding light of scrutiny—especially public scrutiny, tends to chill open admission of error.
A friend of mine told me of an impressive transaction he witnessed. My friend owned a convenince store. One day a man came in with his young son who looked like an egg-sucking dog. The man said, “Mr. K, my son has someting to tell you!” In a pained, squeaky voice, the boy said, “Mr. K, I took this comic book from your store yesterday.” As painful as that deed was—for both the son and the father— it was a character building moment.
Accountability is a vital part not only of building trust, but also in maintaining trust. When God placed the man and woman in Paradise–the “Garden of Eden-–They both broke God’s trust; then a blame-game began to develop. The idea of “scape-goat” is derived from a practice where Jewish people cast their sins onto a goat, in a cleansing preparation for Yom Kippur. For Christians, Jesus is understood to be “…the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world…” A vision seen by St. John of Patmos is the cherished graphic for Christians. It is a kind of catarthic twist on “H’chee Bill did it!” —we confess our sins and trust Jesus to hold us up—as we hear his voice saying, “Go, your sins are forgiven.!”
©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2023
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