A Prayer for Those Guilty of Irresponsibility Lord, when I contemplate Your cruelty, as men have done innumerable times before me, I too consider the presence of evil. However, the ubiquitous misery of the mortal lot does not cause me to doubt either Your existence or Your goodness. I know as well as any other that the best of plans go astray, especially when left to the devices of those who did not craft the blueprints themselves and hence have less understanding of their workings, and less at stake in the fortunes of their success or failure. On the contrary, I believe You meant well. Yet, mired as we are in the suffering of the innocent (a few guilty as well), I sense the subtle pressure of your gaze. Why do you fix me with an accusatory air? I didn't make this mess. I was only deposited here by those who most assuredly neither asked nor received my consent in the matter. That I am here at all is as much an accident as anything else. Still, I feel guilty for not helping clean this mess up. I resent You, O Lord, for You alone are the source of this guilt. If I do little to contribute to a remedy, understand that my inaction is not due to sloth, for I find no comfort in idleness, nor to indifference, for I ruin myself with the refusal to assuage the distress of those who clearly suffer. Rather, by default, I do not participate because the world is old, the mess is colossal, my efforts will be poorly applied, my motives will be second-guessed, I will be upbraided for neglecting the tasks I correspondingly abandoned, and, as soon as I start, I will regret having gotten involved in the whole ugly business in the first place. Let this task fall to someone else, a better person, an angel, perhaps. Only by observing the selfless labor of someone, superior in this quality, do I suspect that I might be induced to pitch in. Lord, place that someone in my midst. For as bad as this prayer makes it sound, the reality is worse.

A Prayer for Those Guilty of Irresponsibility David Keffer Knoxville, TN October 24, 2014

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