>    In yesterday’s blog, I wrote about personal responsibility. I thought that was the end of the topic, for now. I was wrong. Today’s CNN’s on-line, headline story has a photo Bob Murray, CEO of Murray Energy saying, “I’ll never come back to that evil mountain.”
    Mr. Murray is, of course, referring to the Utah mountain under which 6 miners have been trapped for over a week and where 3 rescue workers have been killed trying to find them. Murray has given anthropomorphic status to the mountain, as well as Free Will, and thereby exonerated…or at least assuaged his conscience and himself from any responsibility for the tragedy.
    Not that I’m looking to cast blame or guilt. Not even gross negligence (and I’m a former lawyer!). It’s just that in following this unfolding and very sad story, I read a few days ago that the method/technique used by Murray Energy to extract coal from that mountain is so dangerous that many mine companies nationwide no longer use it.  I’d like to ask Mr. Murray why his company was still using it. I think it’s a reasonable, and highly relevant, question.
    Now I know pursuit of this line of questioning will be more tedious for Mr. Murray and not nearly as compassion generating. The photo of him on CNN is that of an anguished man. This line of questioning will also likely involve a team of my former colleagues digging into business practices and safety standards. Fortunately, I no longer do that work and the job will fall to others.
    What I do now is write about the highest good for all concerned and how we, as contributors to the ever-unfolding and consciousness expanding Universe, can make contributions that positively impact our world.
    Mr. Murray’s statement about the mountain provides us a good opportunity to examine how we abdicate personal responsibility.
    What happened in Utah was not the mountain’s fault. At least not directly and consciously. If you believe that Nature takes care of itself and that it is capable of “retaliating” for damage done to it, then perhaps there is enough responsibility to go around afterall.
    More likely is the fact that we get back that which we put out. We are in wanton pursuit of extracting coal from the Earth without true respect and honor for either the Earth or the people we employ to do the job. We are using methods that are darn near antiquated and, I’d say, primitive in the scheme of things.
    With all the technological advances and all the intelligence in this country, it’s hard to believe that we have not yet developed alternative sources of energy sufficient to provide for the general good. It’s hard to believe that after thousands of years…it’s still all about the money.
    Let’s return to Mr. Murray and Murray Energy. He needs to say that he made a good financial decision and a bad human one. He needs to take responsibility for the method his company was pursuing and why. He needs to reevaluate his role as CEO at Murray Energy and how he sees it going forward…for himself and for the company. He needs to place value where it belongs…not on bottom line profits but on the sanctity of human life. He needs to step up so that all the children looking at all the people in positions of power begin to understand that we as a nation take personal responsibility for what we say and do.
    We are trapped in a pattern of ignoring our obligation to the integrity of every moment and every situation. The Bob Murray’s of this world can set an example of how to break that pattern and create a new one that better serves us all.
    Then none of us will be trapped anymore.
   

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