“A
responsible person fulfills the assigned duty by staying true to the aim.
Duties are carried out with integrity and a sense of purpose.”
Circumstances,
necessity, and choice place people in particular situations and roles. Moral
responsibility is to accept what is required, to honor the role which has been entrusted,
and to perform conscientiously and to the best of one’s ability. The actor has
been given the part. He or she should be mindful of that and not wish to be
somewhere or someone else. Duties should be carried out with integrity and a
sense of purpose.
Acting Responsibly
Personal
responsibility in life comes from many expected and unexpected sources and
involves partnership and participation, commitment and cooperation. Social and
global responsibility requires all the above as well as justice, humaneness,
and respect for the rights of all human beings. Particular attention is paid to
ensure that benefit is for all without discrimination.
Some
interpret responsibility as a burden and fail to see it as personally relevant.
It becomes convenient to project it as someone else’s problem. These people
deny their responsibility, yet when it comes to rights, they are the first in
line!
A
responsible person perseveres, not stubbornly with a blind focus, but with the
motivation of fulfilling the assigned duty by staying true to the aim. When
there is the consciousness of being an instrument or a facilitator, a person
stays neutral and flexible in his or her role. One remains detached yet has a
clear understanding of what needs to be done. When the role is played
accurately, there is efficiency and effectiveness which result in satisfaction
and contentment at having made a significant contribution.
Responsibility
often calls upon humility to help overcome obstacles created by ego. For
instance, one acting responsibly does not take over or control the outcome. One
acting responsibly also has the maturity to know when a responsibility should
be handed to another. A major barrier is becoming too attached to the
responsibility. Being over- conscientious leads to worry, doubt, and fear,
which can have a crippling effect on decision-making and result in devastating
consequences.
Collaboration Is Essential
Responsible
individuals work in collaboration. That is true for all tasks and especially
important in areas which affect the lives of others. Responsible individuals
operate on two premises: 1) that all participants have something worthwhile to
offer, and 2) that the situation requires a cooperative rather than a
competitive environment. Responsible people do not fall into the traps of
inferiority or superiority; they recognize that the optimum outcome cannot
depend on one person, one group, or one nation alone.
Responsibility
is managing time and resources to bring maximum benefit while accommodating
necessary change. Decisions in the consciousness of being responsible for
social or global welfare encourage actions which are performed in a selfless
way. In taking responsibility for others’ rights, a budget of all assets
mental, physical, and spiritual – needs to be devised. That includes taking
into account accumulated and available resources and their efficient and
equitable use. Inattention, carelessness, corruption, greed, or lack of
judgment result not only in some people or areas receiving nothing, some not
enough, and others too much, but also in the unnecessary loss of human lives
and natural resources.
Accountability
Whether
the act is for world or for individual improvement, when that role and
responsibility are accepted, there needs to be an internal support system which
ensures that essential qualities are assimilated and put into practical
activity. Such is necessary for everyone and especially so for parents,
educators, religious leaders, political leaders, and celebrities, as well as
trendsetters from various disciplines, since they are all role models of
behavior. They have significant roles because they help shape norms which have
enormous influence on weaving the fabric of society. One principle of learning
is observing the behavior and real-life experience of those we admire and
respect. Therefore, it is incumbent upon role models to accept and honor the
responsibility of being “examples.” The bigger the part, the greater
the concern should be for the message being imparted and its impact on the
lives of others.
It has
been said that with rights go responsibilities, and within that concept the law
of action becomes operable. Each human being is like a star consisting of his
or her own small world. Each star has to perceive its own world and look for
the balance of rights and responsibilities. Life is the field of action. On
that field, each one’s part should be enacted with responsibility and
accountability. Those who wear the crown of responsibility embedded with the
jewels of rights become the stars with a positive influence on the world!
