Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-11
To Blame or Not to Blame.
By Ruth Cameron.

An interesting question regarding the
ethics of responsibility has been put to
me by one of my letter friends. and be-
cause it is not only an interesting ques-
| ton. but also one which is continually be-
i ing raised in some form. I am going to
offer my little solution of it in this col
umn.
This is my letter friends story. A
friend of hers had dearly loved cousin
visiting her The cousin had planned to
return home on certain day. Her host
ess was so loathe to have her go that she
urged her to stay another day. The cousin
at first protested vigorously, but finally
yielded rather against her better judg-
ment, and put off her return until the
next day. On that day there was a ter
rible train wreck and the girl was killed
in it.
And now my friend is almost insane
with grief writes my correspondent
And it isn't only that. but she is tor
tured by remorse. She says she was to
blame for her cousins death because, If
she had only let her go when she wanted
to. she would have reached home safely.
tell her that is all nonsense. but she
won't listen to me. She is making her
What do 1 think? Well. / most heartily
agree with my correspondent that her
friends attitude is all nonsense. OF
course. it is inevitable that she should
feel regret, but j don't think it is case
for remorse at all.
Blame" and fault are very difficult
words to deal with. Only the All Wise
can see and understand sufficiently about
our motives and our temptations, our in
tentions and our mistakes to be sure
of using these words Alright But this is
the way it seems to me. One is not to
blame for the chain of events which fol-
lows some act except in so far as one is
to blame because the act itself was
wrong.
l do not think that one can claim credit
for all the events that follow ones act
except in so far is the act itself was cred
liable, and so / think the converse holds
true For instance, If this woman had
persuaded her cousin to stay another day
and the railroad wreck had occurred on
the day on which she had intended to &c
home, 1 do not think the woman would
have deserved credit for saving her cOus-
ms life. Conversely, she does not have
reason to accuse herself of being to blame
for the girls death.
In this case there was neither praise nor
blame attaching to the act itself. But
| suppose that the woman had for purely
! selfish reasons unfairly tricked her cousin
| into staying, and the girl had been killed
| Then 1 think the woman would have beer
| to blame for her deceit and selfishness
not for the tragedy. And suppose on the
other hand, she had made some specia
| sacrifice or effort to make it possible fdH
her guest to stay, and the accident hat
| been avoided, then I think she would
have deserved credit for the sacrifice an(
| effort but not for saving the girls life.
| If we were to blame or credit ourselves
with all the long series of events which
! often follow our simplest act. we SHOULD
| certainly have hard time keeping score
! We must inevitably feel regret whei
| something unfortunate happens, which
would not have happened if we had actet
differently, but if our act was not in
! trinsically wrong 1 do not think we eve
| need feel remorse.