Human nature being what it is, it appears that many people prefer to blame others or situations when things go wrong – a sort of convenient scapegoating – instead of taking the blame on the chin just like real men and women do. In fact, because blaming others has been on the rise in recent years, I thought the issue was worth delving into via a number of anecdotes and real-life narrations. So, why are so many people ready to deflect blame, even after the facts indicate otherwise, instead of taking full responsibility for their own buffoonery, blunders, errancies and crimes?

Take, for instance, the story of a self-declared somnambulist who waltzed right into a female neighbor’s home and shared with her his trance-inducing and pleasure-peddling love appendage. And when the overjoyed lass wanted more of the consensual, albeit illicit, liaison, Romeo turned her down, telling a stunned court, after his wife had filed for divorce, that he could not remember a thing – from putting on his robe to leaving his house to knocking on this admiring neighbor’s door to getting inside her home to undressing her to inundating her entire body with sleep-inducing gratification – and so was innocent! Whew! And, of course, there was the motley of expert testimonies by the defense to corroborate the story’s veracity and douse any iota of skepticism harbored by a stunned jury and audience! After reading the preceding, should I believe that someone could engage in sexual intercourse outside of his own abode and return home the next day without remembering anything pertaining to the event? Blame it on somnambulism!

Take the story of a man who held up a convenience store, shot and killed the clerk, and subsequently stole a large sum of money from the cash register. After a wild chase by police, the shooter was finally apprehended. When questioned, he blamed the entire event on his torturous "journey" through the foster care system, a life-changing event that he believed left irreversible "welts" on his conscience and prevented him from making good decisions well into adulthood. He was hauled to jail after a short trial. Well, just blame it on the fact that his parents gave him up for adoption when he was a baby!

Then there was a fairly recent story of a 62-year-old Florida man who shot his live-in lover on the eve of their wedding! His 61-year-old lover never got to say "I do," because this man would tell police that he accidentally shot her while under the assumption that she was an intruder! Case facts: The gentleman would claim that he awoke in the middle of the night to noise emanating from the living room. Without much thought, he grabbed his gun, sauntered stealthily into the hallway, and shot at the silhouette in the living room, having assumed that there was a robber inside the house!

When questioned as to where he thought his lover was at the time, this man would only say that he had assumed all along that she was in bed! What an explanation! After living with this woman for three years, is it too farfetched to argue, even if, indeed, there had been a robber in the home that fateful night, that his lover's silhouette in the living room should have been "decipherable?" Could he not have correctly guessed her height, weight and walking pattern even in a dimly lit room? Did he develop cold feet, since the "accident" occurred on the eve of their wedding? Ostensibly distraught by the "accidental" killing of his fiancée, the police may not seek any charges against this guy! Just blame it on poor judgment attributable to the residual effects of inadequate sleep!

There is also the heartrending and poignant story of a stepdad who sexually abused his 15-year-old stepdaughter for many years before fate led to his arrest. Unbeknownst to the victim's mother, this man had been abusing the girl from age 10, but why the girl had lacked the courage to confess the abuse to her mother was something that investigators were looking into: she may have been threatened with death or other life-altering punishments by her abuser.

The sad thing is that a poor girl's innocence was destroyed and a mother's heart was ineradicably wounded. I do not care if a woman's new husband wears one large cross in the front, a small cross in the back, two miniature crosses on each shoulder and another religious insignia on his shirt before going to church on Sundays, he must be respectfully watched if there is a young girl in the house who is not his biological daughter! It is not an issue of trust – it is an issue of not giving him the opportunity to blame Satan later if he strayed into the girl's pants! When confronted by a betrayed spouse, this sadist and popinjay of a man would blame both Satan and his rapacious sex drive for the offense!

Law enforcement officers are supposed to be upstanding members of society, which is why when a divorced mother discovered that a cop was interested in getting to know her and her 9-year-old daughter, she did not hesitate to open up her home to this devious and calculating child abuser. This dishonest cop first had to win the trust of a gullible mother, then take advantage of her daughter for 2 years before the little girl had summoned up enough courage to divulge to her mother the hideous secret that she had been hiding all along. This distraught mother may never again trust another human being in her life!

When confronted by fellow police officers, this pervert would kill his wife (out of the apparent ignominy his actions had engendered) and leave town for good. Instead of confessing his secret life of deceit and crime to his wife and asking her for forgiveness, he ignobly and maliciously blamed his wife for cooperating with law enforcement officials to search their home (she had no choice, folks, since there was a search warrant issued by the courts!), for which he would shoot her in cold blood, before fleeing for good. He has not been seen since. Just blame it on a dirty cop's inability to control his emotions under pressure!

Life is very scary in the Western world, because people can commit crimes and then blame their actions on a personality disorder, temporary insanity, permanent insanity, depression, bipolarity, separation disorder, or any other formally documented health, mental or environmental condition. And some would even blame their parents, teachers and friends for their crimes. We live in an era in which people are apt to shift blame and refuse to accept responsibility for their own ignominious acts. To avoid becoming victims, we ought to be very careful when dealing with our fellow men and women, for any resentful or jealous person could empty his loaded gun into another person's chest and blame it on voices in his head! And the sad thing is that a jury, or judge, may just believe the offender, leaving the victim's family with a two-pronged injury: the senseless death of a loved one and the inability of a court of law to find the perpetrator culpable because of some "loopholes" in the interpretation of the law.

The writer, Daniel K. Pryce, holds a master's degree in public administration from George Mason University, U.S.A. He is a member of the national honor society for public affairs and administration in the U.S.A. He can be reached at dpryce@cox.net.