Personal Accountability: No Throwing Stones!

There’s a ton of COVID-19 angst and anger in the world today, for sure. Being home together 24/7, my wife, Karen, and I have lots of time to discuss what’s going on. You probably do, too.

Interestingly, somehow, we’ve learned even more about each other than we knew before. Even though we began dating … in 1976 and married in 1980!

Last evening, as we talked about the finger-pointing and blame we’re witnessing — not to mention incessant recrimination and hind-sighting — Karen shared a short story I’d not heard before …

Karen’s Story

In 1982, we lived in Great Falls, Montana. I worked for Cargill as a grain trader, and Karen was an RN at Deaconess Medical Center.

Frequently, she served as the evening shift “charge nurse”—though only 22-years-old.

Here’s what she shared:

I recall at each shift change, the nurses coming on would grouse about how the last shift hadn’t done this or that correctly. The outgoing shift staff would complain about what the shift before them didn’t do right. One day, I was so fed up, I went to the whiteboard in the break room, grabbed a marker, and wrote, “Let the person who has not sinned throw the first stone.”

I was dumbfounded. I even said, “Wait, you’ve never shared this with me! How come?”

Karen shrugged. ?

The Story’s Meaning

At the ripe-old-age of 22, decades before the QBQ! book was written, my bride saw and felt the cost of blame. Now, in the year she turns 60, she’s not lost her insight or shed her values. Watching people tear each other apart over Coronavirus causes her pain. For Karen and many others, it is completely disheartening.

You see, thirty-eight years ago, Karen intrinsically understood that complaining, grumbling, blaming, and finger-pointing added absolutely no value to this world or our lives. Hence, she shared that Biblically-based message with her colleagues on a hospital whiteboard.

All these years later, her belief system is unchanged:

When we practice Personal Accountability in all things and in all moments, everything can and will come together for good.

This story that I’d never heard before, of course, smacks of complete wisdom on Karen’s part. Yet, let’s be honest: It also makes me look awfully smart because it was I … who wisely married her!

Kudos to John. ?

So, are you throwing any stones right now? Comments welcome. ??

Need a virtual QBQ! workshop? Click here.

Join our QBQ! Facebook Group here.