How Fatherhood Taught me the power of Responsibility.

Have you ever tried talking to a politically minded person? Does it feel like they always have a thousand things to complain about but no real solutions? Does it seem strange that the solution always seems to be about who to vote for and what law to pass? Does it seem that sometimes they cling to grievances and justifications for victimhood? 

I thought I would share this morning insight I’ve gained over the years by being a dad to address this issue and give you a question you can ask to bring sanity to the political mind. 

When my son was younger, he would be playing and inevitably hurt himself doing something. Falling down, scraping his knee, stubbing his toe, getting hit with a ball… whatever. He would be crying and the first thing i did was hold him and tell him it would be ok. Then I would ask him, “what do you want to do?” Not “what caused this?” Not “who did this?” Not “how did this happen”. I asked “what do you want to do?” Every time he would gather himself, reintroduce himself to his power of choice, and choose to stop crying and go play again. This is the opposite of what politicians and voters do. When something bad happens, they don’t ask “what do you want to do about it?” They ask “who is at fault and what are we going to make them do?”. This is the origin of totalitarianism. But when we take back responsibility and help others remember their power of choice, this is the way we break authoritarian states and gain our rights to freedom and that spirit of play. Even when the government or our neighbors behave badly, we don’t look for who to blame or who to make it better. We focus on a higher throne that is always in control and always orchestrated everything, skinned knees, stubbed toes, replevins, war, genocides, and corruption… for our good. In this we can always trust and ask “what do I want to do about this?”