Surely there is a better way.

While no one seems to want responsibility, the best way to empower ourselves is to take responsibility for the world we live in. Now clearly we need to place responsibility where it belongs when parties have broken the law, or failed to live up to their contracts, covenants, commitments and oaths. But if we want to change the world, we must be willing to respond to the first question by standing up and saying, 'I am responsible.'

So what are you going to do about it?

When we respond that, 'I am responsible,' we are no longer talking about blame. We are striving to make the world a better place. We are not taking the blame for things we have not done. I have n

Many of us enjoy standing around talking about the things that are wrong with the world. We debate what is wrong, who is to blame, what should be done about it. Let me be clear. Speech and debate are not nothing. I enjoy discussion and debate. They have an innate value. They allow us to clarify our thoughts, which eventually shape our actions. But debate, discussion, analysis, gossip, talk - alone do not get you very far. So I have three questions for the inactive activist.

Who is responsible for this?

This is the first question your mother asked when she walked into a room where children and the law of entropy had colluded together to create chaos. We ask this question all of the time. There are no shortage of problems for which we can ask who is responsible - September 11th, Katrina, the War in Iraq and the Insurgency or the Civil War, the state of the earth, the state of your government, the state of the economy, the state of your society. It is a basic question. It almost begs to be asked. We feel that big problems must have human causes - or at least people who are at fault.

We ask this question primarily to place blame. The answer is almost always 'them.' It is rarely 'you,' and almost never 'me.' Passing the buck is as old as humanity itself. Our oldest myth says that when God asked Adam 'Who is responsible for this?,' Adam pointed to Even and said, 'The woman gave me the fruit.' Eve, for her part, said 'The serpent made me do it.' Most human arguments seem to be about blame at some basic level.

There may also be darker motives at play than simply placing or displacing blame. Schadenfreude is a German word for an unfortunately common human emotion - taking joy in the suffering of others. 'He is responsible for this. It's his fault. Now watch him wriggle on the hook!' Often times we place blame the way we taunt a caged animal. It is common. But it is not pretty. Another related motive for placing blame is seeking personal gain through attacking others. Our politics thrives on the careful management, publication, moral posturing, and response to scandal. We have developed a whole vocabulary for this kind of politics and public debate - 'spin,' 'the politics of personal destruction,' 'Swiftboating,' fill-in-the-blank-'gate' (Watergate, Filegate, Plamegate). Attack and blame politics is fundamentally negative. It makes no positive contribution to any good governance. It cultivates grievance, irresponsibility, lawsuits, independent prosecutors, and voter disgust.

The most common responses to the loud bickering, finger pointing, and blame displacement that surrounds us are fatalism, apathy and general moral relativism. Fatalism is the attitude that we are powerless to change or affect the world. 'It's God's fault, or fate's fault, or the devil's fault, or some faceless conspiracy's fault.' Fatalism seems fundamental to conspiracy theories, in that some untouchable cabal is actually in control of the government, the economy, politics, or your life. Next, apathy, indifference, and absence of motivation respond that, 'we don't care who is at fault, because it doesn't really matter.' Moral relativism asserts that all judgment is hypocrisy. 'Everyone is at fault'; 'no one is at fault.' It is all the same. The result of all of these bland, irresponsible positions is that we surrender our agency. Someone else is always to blame; no one is responsible; and there's little you can or ought to do about it.

Surely there is a better way.

While no one seems to want responsibility, the best way to empower ourselves is to take responsibility for the world we live in. Now clearly we need to place responsibility where it belongs when parties have broken the law, or failed to live up to their contracts, covenants, commitments and oaths. But if we want to change the world, we must be willing to respond to the first question by standing up and saying, 'I am responsible.'

So what are you going to do about it?

When we respond that, 'I am responsible,' we are no longer talking about blame. We are striving to make the world a better place. We are not taking the blame for things we have not done. I have ne

This is the first question your mother asked when she walked into a room where children and the law of entropy had colluded together to create chaos. We ask this question all of the time. There are no shortage of problems for which we can ask who is responsible - September 11th, Katrina, the War in Iraq and the Insurgency or the Civil War, the state of the earth, the state of your government, the state of the economy, the state of your society. It is a basic question. It almost begs to be asked. We feel that big problems must have human causes - or at least people who are at fault.

We ask this question primarily to place blame. The answer is almost always 'them.' It is rarely 'you,' and almost never 'me.' Passing the buck is as old as humanity itself. Our oldest myth says that when God asked Adam 'Who is responsible for this?,' Adam pointed to Even and said, 'The woman gave me the fruit.' Eve, for her part, said 'The serpent made me do it.' Most human arguments seem to be about blame at some basic level.

There may also be darker motives at play than simply placing or displacing blame. Schadenfreude is a German word for an unfortunately common human emotion - taking joy in the suffering of others. 'He is responsible for this. It's his fault. Now watch him wriggle on the hook!' Often times we place blame the way we taunt a caged animal. It is common. But it is not pretty. Another related motive for placing blame is seeking personal gain through attacking others. Our politics thrives on the careful management, publication, moral posturing, and response to scandal. We have developed a whole vocabulary for this kind of politics and public debate - 'spin,' 'the politics of personal destruction,' 'Swiftboating,' fill-in-the-blank-'gate' (Watergate, Filegate, Plamegate). Attack and blame politics is fundamentally negative. It makes no positive contribution to any good governance. It cultivates grievance, irresponsibility, lawsuits, independent prosecutors, and voter disgust.

The most common responses to the loud bickering, finger pointing, and blame displacement that surrounds us are fatalism, apathy and general moral relativism. Fatalism is the attitude that we are powerless to change or affect the world. 'It's God's fault, or fate's fault, or the devil's fault, or some faceless conspiracy's fault.' Fatalism seems fundamental to conspiracy theories, in that some untouchable cabal is actually in control of the government, the economy, politics, or your life. Next, apathy, indifference, and absence of motivation respond that, 'we don't care who is at fault, because it doesn't really matter.' Moral relativism asserts that all judgment is hypocrisy. 'Everyone is at fault'; 'no one is at fault.' It is all the same. The result of all of these bland, irresponsible positions is that we surrender our agency. Someone else is always to blame; no one is responsible; and there's little you can or ought to do about it.

Surely there is a better way.

While no one seems to want responsibility, the best way to empower ourselves is to take responsibility for the world we live in. Now clearly we need to place responsibility where it belongs when parties have broken the law, or failed to live up to their contracts, covenants, commitments and oaths. But if we want to change the world, we must be willing to respond to the first question by standing up and saying, 'I am responsible.'

So what are you going to do about it?

When we respond that, 'I am responsible,' we are no longer talking about blame. We are striving to make the world a better place. We are not taking the blame for things we have not done. I have n

There may also be darker motives at play than simply placing or displacing blame. Schadenfreude is a German word for an unfortunately common human emotion - taking joy in the suffering of others. 'He is responsible for this. It's his fault. Now watch him wriggle on the hook!' Often times we place blame the way we taunt a caged animal. It is common. But it is not pretty. Another related motive for placing blame is seeking personal gain through attacking others. Our politics thrives on the careful management, publication, moral posturing, and response to scandal. We have developed a whole vocabulary for this kind of politics and public debate - 'spin,' 'the politics of personal destruction,' 'Swiftboating,' fill-in-the-blank-'gate' (Watergate, Filegate, Plamegate). Attack and blame politics is fundamentally negative. It makes no positive contribution to any good governance. It cultivates grievance, irresponsibility, lawsuits, independent prosecutors, and voter disgust.

The most common responses to the loud bickering, finger pointing, and blame displacement that surrounds us are fatalism, apathy and general moral relativism. Fatalism is the attitude that we are powerless to change or affect the world. 'It's God's fault, or fate's fault, or the devil's fault, or some faceless conspiracy's fault.' Fatalism seems fundamental to conspiracy theories, in that some untouchable cabal is actually in control of the government, the economy, politics, or your life. Next, apathy, indifference, and absence of motivation respond that, 'we don't care who is at fault, because it doesn't really matter.' Moral relativism asserts that all judgment is hypocrisy. 'Everyone is at fault'; 'no one is at fault.' It is all the same. The result of all of these bland, irresponsible positions is that we surrender our agency. Someone else is always to blame; no one is responsible; and there's little you can or ought to do about it.

Surely there is a better way.

While no one seems to want responsibility, the best way to empower ourselves is to take responsibility for the world we live in. Now clearly we need to place responsibility where it belongs when parties have broken the law, or failed to live up to their contracts, covenants, commitments and oaths. But if we want to change the world, we must be willing to respond to the first question by standing up and saying, 'I am responsible.'

So what are you going to do about it?

When we respond that, 'I am responsible,' we are no longer talking about blame. We are striving to make the world a better place. We are not taking the blame for things we have not done. I have n

The most common responses to the loud bickering, finger pointing, and blame displacement that surrounds us are fatalism, apathy and general moral relativism. Fatalism is the attitude that we are powerless to change or affect the world. 'It's God's fault, or fate's fault, or the devil's fault, or some faceless conspiracy's fault.' Fatalism seems fundamental to conspiracy theories, in that some untouchable cabal is actually in control of the government, the economy, politics, or your life. Next, apathy, indifference, and absence of motivation respond that, 'we don't care who is at fault, because it doesn't really matter.' Moral relativism asserts that all judgment is hypocrisy. 'Everyone is at fault'; 'no one is at fault.' It is all the same. The result of all of these bland, irresponsible positions is that we surrender our agency. Someone else is always to blame; no one is responsible; and there's little you can or ought to do about it.

Surely there is a better way.

While no one seems to want responsibility, the best way to empower ourselves is to take responsibility for the world we live in. Now clearly we need to place responsibility where it belongs when parties have broken the law, or failed to live up to their contracts, covenants, commitments and oaths. But if we want to change the world, we must be willing to respond to the first question by standing up and saying, 'I am responsible.'

So what are you going to do about it?

When we respond that, 'I am responsible,' we are no longer talking about blame. We are striving to make the world a better place. We are not taking the blame for things we have not done. I have n

Surely there is a better way.

While no one seems to want responsibility, the best way to empower ourselves is to take responsibility for the world we live in. Now clearly we need to place responsibility where it belongs when parties have broken the law, or failed to live up to their contracts, covenants, commitments and oaths. But if we want to change the world, we must be willing to respond to the first question by standing up and saying, 'I am responsible.'

So what are you going to do about it?

When we respond that, 'I am responsible,' we are no longer talking about blame. We are striving to make the world a better place. We are not taking the blame for things we have not done. I have never owned slaves, nor perjured myself, nor beaten a woman, nor dumped toxic waste in the soil. I need not take undue blame for racism, corruption, misogyny, or environmental pollution. Yet, I can respond ethically, responsibly, and energetically to the mixed world I live in. To take responsibility is to move beyond grievance and blame to some kind of positive activism.

'So what are you going to do about it?' This is the question that fourteen year olds ask each other when they get in pushing contests over social status. Nevertheless, the question applies broadly to the inactive activist as well. How are you going to improve the world? How are you going to address the problems you claim to care about? Yes, speaking out is something. But what else are you going to do? Answering our first question responsibly takes emotional maturity. Answering our second question well requires commitment, creativity, planning, organization, and a little inspiration. However, taking responsibility and engaging in a course of activism is also the best way to empower yourself and others.

What is your stewardship? What are you responsible for? What do you stand for? We are a remarkably wealthy people, those of us around the world who use the internet. We can move around the world if we choose; we can communicate at the speed of light on a global scale; we can choose our professions, our lifestyles, our communities, our consumption patterns. We have so many opportunities, so much power, and yet we often do not choose to engage responsibly. In denying our responsibility, we also surrender our power to shape or reshape our world. To turn this tide, we must each first decide where our stewardship lies. Where will we choose to direct our agency, to make a difference?

There is no shortage of ideals, principles, communities, causes or movements to devote our time, talents and energies toward. The universe is big, and it is expanding rapidly - both the physical universe and the human universe. Therefore, we can follow our hearts and minds and pursue our passions. There is plenty of room. You can't do everything in a lifetime. So do the important stuff - to you. Then let other people pursue their goals and passions. The expanding universe ought to be characterized by free agency, free speech, increasing diversity, and lots of toleration. (That's my view anyway.) So strive for the best. Seek the highest, most positive goals. No one can tell you what those goals are. Look around, and you'll see them yourself.

Then, we turn our talents, abilities and resources toward our goals. In my limited experience, pursuing positive goals for the sake of community and social service or betterment is deeply rewarding. Working for good causes has the capacity to accomplish something, to make a change, to serve peoples' lives. It also has some fringe benefits. First, activism stretches and expands our own abilities. We learn and grow far more than those we serve. We become more knowledgeable, wiser, more charitable, more aware, more engaged, more committed. We become what we hoped to make for society. Gandhi famously said, 'You must be the change you want to see in the world.' The best way to do that is to honestly pursue some form of service without hypocrisy.

Second, as we reach out to our communities and to wider societies, we expand our world and improve the nature and quality of our own social networks. Activism engenders cooperation, organization and community support. By working together we build stronger, more durable ties than is possible any other way. We build service communities. The people I have served together with have, in many cases not been people I would have chosen as p