Maeve:

What they are responsible for is the decisions that they made to act or not act in each moment. They didn't decide to move to higher ground; they didn't decide to leave town the first time the clouds of war threatened; they decided that staying alive in fear was worth more than dying with honor; they each made a thousand decisions to act or not act and these decisions are their own. There is no claim here that these decisions "should" have been otherwise. But it is imporetant that one own exactly how one really did end up where one is.

This is no way makes them blameworthy for violence against them. Blame and responsibility are entirely different things--one is an effort to reach truth, and the other is an effort to bury it.

The person who lies to you can be blamed for lying to you and misleading you. But only you can take responsibility for believing him.


A