A different kind of ownership

I guess a very rare kind of ownership is owning one’s fault. There is no exception to the difficulty of this task; young or old, rich or poor, boss or subordinate. There is always the temptation to pass on the fault to someone else, and sometimes even when the attribution is good, we still hesitate to own the positive.

I always wonder why this is so. Genesis 3:11-13 shows that even as early as creation, during the fall of man, the buck passing was already present. Adam told God he ate the apple because Eve gave it to him and Eve blamed the serpent. Now we blame our transgressions over our humanity.

Still, we cannot hide behind this excuse forever. God showed us these examples so we may learn from them and own our faults. That’s all He asked for actually; that we humble ourselves before Him and accept our mistakes, then do something about it. It is in the repentance and reparation that we need God to give us the strength that only He has.

In our daily transactions, we meet different people with different priorities. In the effort of trying to achieve what is important to us, sometimes, we forget to look at others and their needs as well. As we push for what we want we shove others aside unmindful of their feelings. We pursue our business with passion and forget that we will never reach the profits we want if we are not helped by people around us. Our staff, the salesmen and employees who man the lines that need us to produce or reap the gains we target for each year. Do we ask ourselves if we have ownership over their welfare? Do we just work and plough in benefits to ourselves or are we good stewards of the people God has entrusted us to care for?

As workers, are we earning our wages with honesty and integrity? When the profits bloom, are we happy about the contributions we have made that are borne out of the right scales and not tampered weights? Have we priced our goods with the intention of allowing those who need them to afford them?

I recall the discoveries of medicines that were supposed to heal dreaded diseases, as soon as people knew about it, the raw material of the commodity became expensive. Some hoarded the fruit, hunted the shark, skinned the tree, mass produced at mid-study in order to overtake a similar drug of a competitor, and ended up with wrong results discrediting outright the first discovery and the need for further study. All because of greed.

Again, we do not also want to admit greed.

What is my point? Acceptance. Knowing what we want. Doing something about how to get it without jeopardizing others. Knowing that we are prone to pride and its consequences. Owning our actions. Learning how to say sorry and taking on responsibility for the wrong. Admitting what is right and standing for it. Hurdling the pain and earning the dignity of being able to bend and stand up again.

It only takes ownership. Owning what is right. In the end, we only have one master who truly owns us - God.