A young man named Andrew was working at his first job, and he had made a few mistakes. One day, his boss called him into the office and demanded an explanation for his poor work. Andrew began making excuses, claiming that his mistakes were the fault of his co-workers.

His boss suddenly pointed out the window and exclaimed with alarm, “There it goes!”

As Andrew turned to look, his boss announced, “It’s a buck flying past!”

Have you ever seen a buck flying past? When we are called to account for our mistakes, it’s so tempting to “pass the buck,” isn’t it? To blame others for our misdoing.

This phrase, pass the buck, has an interesting origin. It used to be the practice of card players to place a marker in front of the person whose turn it was to deal the cards. That marker was referred t…