{"id":6362,"date":"2023-10-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6362"},"modified":"2023-08-25T16:30:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T21:30:34","slug":"passing-the-buck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6362","title":{"rendered":"Passing the Buck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Abundant Life: Riches money can\u2019t buy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Those living the abundant life do not defend poor choices by passing the buck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passing the buck is an expression that has nothing to do with the American dollar. It actually means to shift the responsibility or blame somewhere else. This expression dates back to frontier times in the mid-1800s. In poker games, a piece of buckshot or a knife with a buckhorn handle was passed around to remind players that they were the next dealer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was reminded of this phrase when watching the recent Oppenheimer movie which is about designing and dropping the bomb on Japan which ended World War II. This happened when Harry S. Truman was president. Truman kept a plaque with that phrase on his desk in the oval Office. He felt the president had to make certain decisions and take responsibility for them. Oppenheimer may have made the bomb, but Truman made the decision to drop it. The buck stopped with him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live in a society that is very adept at passing the buck! No one wants to accept responsibility for bad choices. If a person smokes and gets cancer, it\u2019s the tobacco industry\u2019s fault. If a person shoots someone, it\u2019s the gun manufacturer\u2019s fault. If a person drives drunk, it\u2019s the bartender\u2019s fault. If a child misbehaves, it\u2019s the music industry\u2019s fault.  Should the tobacco industry, gun manufacturers, bartenders, music industry, and others act more responsibly?  Yes!  Are they to blame for the choices we make?  No!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \u201cblaming others for our actions\u201d mentality influences almost every aspect of our lives. We want to blame our \u201clot in life\u201d on our parents, our neighborhood, the times we live in, our lack of good fortune or fate. Yet many born into poverty have risen above it and many with health problems have accomplished much. Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton, Andrew Carnegie, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Helen Keller are just a few that come to mind. While it\u2019s true that environment and heredity can limit our choices in life, they can\u2019t determine what kind of person we choose to be. Our actions determine that.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proclivity to blame others is not new. It\u2019s been going on since the time of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3, we see that when God asked Adam why he disobeyed by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam blamed Eve. Then Eve blamed the serpent. Adam went so far as to say to God, \u201cIt\u2019s the woman, YOU gave me!\u201d  Now it was God\u2019s fault. Everyone wanted to blame somebody else and we\u2019ve been blaming others for what we do ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those living the abundant life know that blaming others or blaming circumstances never improves a situation.  If anything, it only makes it worse. They don\u2019t try to pass the buck. They know the buck stops with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>\u2026I have come that they may have life and that they<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

may have it more abundantly.\u201d ~John 10:10 (KJV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Abundant Life: Riches money can\u2019t buy\u2026 Those living the abundant life do not defend poor choices by passing the buck. Passing the buck is an expression that has nothing to do with the American dollar. It actually means to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6364,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6362\/revisions\/6364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}