It's not your fault - Shawn Loughlin editorial
Growing up, I was raised Catholic. We didn’t go to mass too often, but I did attend Catholic elementary school and high school. The one thing I took away from my years of studying Catholicism? Guilt!
Yes, Catholics are among the guiltiest-feeling people you will ever meet. Catholic guilt even has its own Wikipedia page. That’s when you know something’s for real. To this day, I internalize a lot and blame myself for things I have no business taking the blame for, or things over which I have no control.
Remember that scene in Good Will Hunting when Sean (Robin Williams) experiences a breakthrough with Will (Matt Damon) character? Sean tells Will over and over again that his trauma associated with child abuse is not his fault. It’s one of the most famous scenes in the movie and it’s the key to moving forward for Will. “It’s not your fault.”
I’m starting to think that some businesses and definitely some in high political offices should employ an it’s-not-your-fault guy. (I suppose Sean in Good Will Hunting is actually a psychiatrist, but to have a little bit of fun, we can keep calling it an it’s-not-your-fault guy.)
Our pal from CTV, Scott Miller, recently filed a great story about the closing of Wescast in Wingham (for three years, so say the owners). It not only connected with people who had worked with the company for years, but provided some historical context for the company and its history in the community.
In the comments on the Facebook post (which is where I go for the most intelligent exchanges of the day), it didn’t take long at all for many to blame this Chinese company’s decision on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford (or, in some cases, both - as we all know, Trudeau and Ford are well known for always being on the same page).
Now, I’m not necessarily known for sticking up for Trudeau and I’m certainly not known for sticking up for Ford, but can we all just agree at a certain point that we can’t possibly blame everything bad that happens on these two men? If a company decides to make a decision that will hurt a community like Wingham and change the lives of hundreds of families in the area, it’s devastating - there’s no way around it. But, is it Trudeau’s fault? Is it Ford’s fault? And, are we not letting the company slide for its decision by trying to blame leaders like Trudeau and Ford?
Hopefully their it’s-not-your-fault guys are well rested and ready to help as this kind of behaviour ramps up. There is plenty to blame either of those politicians for, but we can’t blame them for everything.
On the weekend, I shot a too-bad-to-report score at Royal Ontario Golf Club in Milton. Then, on the way to the restaurant for dinner, my GPS took me on a route that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I had a pretty tough time finding a parking spot and then, when we got to the restaurant, they took a few extra minutes to get our table ready. Tough not to blame Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford for these things.
This can pretty quickly become a boy-who-cried wolf situation. If you blame someone (or something) for everything, it becomes hard to take you seriously and approach your thoughts and ideas in a reasonable manner. If you blame a politician every time you burn a piece of toast, for example, I believe the joke is on you.
So, let’s all band together and collectively agree to a New Year’s Resolution (in July) that we’ll blame those who are to blame for things moving forward. There are plenty of people putting together sub-par careers out there, but we can’t pin the sadness of the world on them.