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Accountability |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 2/1/2012 1:58 PM | In the last couple of days, I have heard the word accountability used a lot. For a lot of people it is a scary word, conjuring up visions of an overseer or a boss looking over our shoulder to make sure we are doing things correctly. I have heard it in terms of our political process. For example, when someone says that an office holder needs to be accountable to the people. I have heard it in terms of business. Such as when a board of directors or an officer of a company must be held accountable to the stockholders. I have heard it used in legal proceedings. For instance, when a guilty party must be held accountable for their crimes.
It’s an important word, accountability. It implies that there are consequences to our actions, and so, it’s good to have someone holding someone else accountable to make sure that the consequences are not bad ones. I have heard it used as a pejorative when someone says, “Well, they’re accountable to no one but themselves,” implying that they don’t care for anyone but themselves. But I have noticed something when I hear the word used. That is, that we seek accountability from others, but too often don’t insist that we also reach the same standard of accountability. And believe me, I am including myself in that! We want other people to do what they are supposed to do, but sometimes don’t react well when someone wants to hold us accountable. It can be uncomfortable when someone calls us on something and expects us to change.
Why am I bringing all this up? Because I have heard the term thrown around a lot lately. Yes, our politicians should be accountable to us, but there’s not a lot I can do as a single voter. Yes, the officers of the companies in which I have invested should be accountable to me, but as a single shareholder there’s not much I can do except remove my investment (which, isn’t big enough to cause a stir!) Yes, criminals should be accountable to society for their actions, but that is up to a judge to decide and what kind of influence do I have in that arena? Not much. And those who are accountable only to themselves? Well, in the long run we are all accountable to someone beyond ourselves.
Who, then, are we accountable to? How are to be held accountable? Well, when it comes down to it, I think we are accountable to God first and foremost, and that accountability will lead us to a place where the rest of our accountability questions are not all that important. I say that because if we truly seek to be accountable to God, we will work hard to be the person God would have us be. We will understand that God’s will for us is to live in a certain way, emphasizing love and kindness and hard work and devotion to God’s principles. If we do what is right before God, we won’t have to worry too much about the rest of it. In fact, I think a whole lot of the accountability issues in our society stem from the fact that we about being accountable to a whole host of other things – stockholders, the bottom line, success, providing every comfort of life for our families – and forget about our accountability before God. Now, I’m not saying that we should live in fear that God will strike us down or judge us harshly if we get out of line. I’m saying that if we truly seek to follow God’s will and word, to live a life that honors and serves God, doing our best to be accountable to God with every breath we take, then, the rest of it will pretty much fall into place.
Prior to his legal problems, John DeLorean, a former Executive Vice President of General Motors, wrote a book called “On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors.” His was a fascinating life, and for someone who grew up in Detroit, full of lots of good stories about the automobile industry and the city. One chapter of his book was called “How Moral People Make Immoral Decisions”. In this chapter he recounted the decision by General Motors to pay off lawsuits resulting from injuries and accidents resulting from the Corvair’s faulty design, rather than fixing the design flaw. They correctly surmised that it was cheaper to settle the lawsuits than to retool the car to be safer. It was a rational decision made by people who were accountable to the stockholders, the corporation, their fellow executives, the bottom line. DeLorean argued that a good part of the blame for this decision rests on a skewed sense of accountability. And while he didn’t use faith language to say it, if each of these people in charge at GM – the vast majority of them good, conscientious people of faith – had held themselves accountable to a higher authority, the decision to continue to produce and sell a dangerous car would never have been made.
With all the talk of accountability swirling around us these days, can we really change the world by seeking to be accountable, first and foremost, to God? No, but we can change ourselves. And that’s a start. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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