The other night Jan and I were watching the latest episode of Boston Legal. The show can be raunchy and has an unfiltered liberal bias (which is good or bad depending on your point of view), but it's a fun show and it does deal with some interesting topics.
This week, a 15-year-old girl wanted to sue her school for teaching abstinence only, rather than also teaching about condoms. She and her boyfriend had sex, and because the school did not teach her about condoms she and her boyfriend didn't use one and she contracted HIV/AIDS. So, while recognizing her part in it, she felt that the school needed to take responsibility for not teaching her about condoms. In other words, contracting HIV/AIDS was the school's fault.
The Boston Legal heroes, of course, took up her cause, and in a passionate speech to the judge condemned the school for murder since condoms can prevent things like HIV/AIDS and shame on them for not teaching about them. Over the top, as always. And, as always, they won the court case. (Now, what would have happened if they had taught her about condoms, but the condom leaked and she got pregnant!)
I happen to agree that schools should teach about condoms while at the same time teaching abstinence. We need to hold a high value of sex while recognizing the realities of life.
What bothered me about the show was this: No one ever wants to take responsibility for his/her actions. If I get drunk, sue the bartender who kept serving me the alcohol. If I have sex and get HIV/AIDS, blame the school for not telling me about condoms. If I purchase a hot cup of coffee and spill it on myself while driving, sue the place that sold me the coffee for making it too hot. If I gain weight, blame the fast food industry for making me buy super-sized portions. If I can't make it to worship on Sunday, blame the circumstances around me (ouch!). :)
We live in a not-my-fault world. We always blame others. And when we do that, when we fail to take responsibility for our lives, we miss out on what it means to be authentically human. We rob ourselves of being the people God created us to be.
Part of being created in God's image is the joy (and sometimes pain) of taking responsibility for our lives. When we do that, we grow, we learn, we experience the fullness of what it means to be human. A blame or victim mentality ultimately inhibits or binds or enslaves us to others while responsibility sets us free.
I'm responsible for my diet. I'm responsible for my sex life. I'm responsible for my spiritual journey.
But I'm not responsible for this rant (R-Word) on responsibility (R-word). Blame it on Boston Legal.
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1 comment:
I am also a boston legal buff, and I saw that same episode..although it has taken me a while to get around to reading this post...I blame, um...uh...myself for that! Seriously, that is something that we have been trying really hard to teach our kids. The societies way of looking at things is that it is always someone else's fault...then that leads to retaliation, bitterness,hatred,crime corruption and the list goes on. It is so hard to help kids understand that taking care of their own stuff, making sure they are doing what they should, and the others around them who aren't are not their responsibility is so difficult. Thanks for writing about this topic! We struggle with it every day!
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