Accounting 101

“Accountability breeds response-ability."
-Stephen R. Covey

Talk about your wake-up call! Dr. Alfred Nobel, whose name has become synonymous with peace, was confronted one morning with his own obituary after a newspaper confused him with his recently deceased brother. “The merchant of death is dead!” the headline shouted. “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever, died yesterday.”

Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was deeply disturbed that he would be remembered this way. And because of this experience he ended up designating the bulk of his massive estate for the establishment of the Nobel Prizes.

Accountability comes in many forms, even obituaries. And we will all have the chance to answer its call, sooner or later….answer for our actions, or inactions. “Accountability breeds response-ability,” because the challenge to live in truth comes from outside of us, reveals to us our psychological and spiritual blind spots, and stretches us beyond where we’d go if left to our own devices.

But what do you get when you answer to no one? And even worse, that in your isolation and denial your discernment is lacking? What you get is an increasingly large segment of American culture.

A significant amount of research suggests that Americans don’t understand the true nature of accountability, and are increasingly likely to fall prey to the phenomenon known as the “self-serving bias.” What does that mean? People will show a reliable tendency to interpret events in ways that are most favorable to them, or show them in the best possible light, even when objective facts don’t justify these judgments.

If I get the job it’s because I’m wonderful, if I don’t it’s because I was discriminated against. If I stay with my wife, it’s because I’m wonderful, if I leave it’s because she wasn’t meeting my needs. If my son excels in school it’s because he’s my son, and I’m wonderful, if he rebels it’s because of the school.

This is consistent with what Paul Vitz has called “selfism”, and what Christopher Lasch has called “the culture of narcissism.”

I can decide that I want to drive to San Francisco. I can have a high-performance car, a confident attitude, and even know what I want to do when I get there. But if I go south instead of north, and then east instead of west, I’m not going to end up in San Francisco. And all of my positive self-talk and ego-strength won’t change the fact that I’m headed in the wrong direction. In fact, the longer I go without a clue, the more lost I’ll get.

We routinely seek out and follow trustworthy information about diets, movies, restaurants, clothes, fitness regimens, electronic devices, and finances. Should we not do at least as much for the direction of our lives, and our eternal souls?

Question for reflection: Who do you answer to?