The Nature of Responsibility

Being responsible refers to our ability to make decisions that serve our own interests and the interests of others. We first need to be responsible for ourselves before we can be responsible for others. In learning to be more responsible it is important that we know our limitations. It does not matter how smart we are, there is only so much responsibility that a person can handle. It is also important to remember that we are not responsible for things that are out of our control, for example, how other people feel or how they react to ourselves or others. Sharing responsibility for both success and failure can lead to the increased responsibility to oneself and others. When you hear the word “responsibility,” what do you think of first? Many people think of the word BLAME, as in, “Whose responsibility is this?” I think of responsibility as seizing what’s in front of you, exerting a choice, and taking control. The real meaning of responsibility is the ability to respond. It’s going out and creating what you want through personal choices.

The responsibility that each of us has is that we are complete, 100% responsible for how our lives turn out. If you think that being responsible at all times is too hard or too easy, think again; the truth falls somewhere in between. Being responsible involves having some skills, a caring and open attitude, and a good sense of what we can and cannot do. We have a choice to pick out “duties.” But I’m “responsible” for myself. You can’t drink a glass of water for me. You cant eat a sandwich for me. You could cook a beautiful steak and put it in front of me, but you can’t eat it for me, is that correct? And you can’t go to the bathroom for me. So I’m”responsible” for all that. I’m responsible for how I feel. You can’t think for me. You can’t act for me. You can’t do any of those things. Someone’s irresponsibility can be not only irritating when a person does not cope with or does not want to cope with the duties, but in some cases, it can be dangerous. There are certain kinds of jobs which demand from a personal responsibility, jobs where lack of responsibility can lead to tragic consequences or even to a catastrophe. Let us imagine a situation when a student was to write an essay but he did not manage to complete this task in time. A professor would definitely call the student irresponsible. In this case, there is no damage from irresponsibility, except for the student’s personal harm. But let’s also imagine another situation.

An employee of a Nuclear Power Plant was not attentive enough, pushed a wrong button and it led to an explosion. This catastrophe caused by lack of responsibility as terrible consequences, it can damage not only the environment but also can take people’s lives. Of course, these examples are exaggerated but the last one shows how much important responsibility is. Some people claim that responsibility is not in their nature. They say that they try to be responsible but nothing works. I don’t think it is fair enough. I believe that for someone responsibility is more natural, for others it is not. That is why for someone it can be easier to be responsible, while for others it is rather hard. Honestly saying, judging from my own experience sometimes it is so difficult to stay responsible, especially when you want to relax and to have a little rest without thinking about the duties you have. It may seem that people who are too much responsible very often are too serious, and tense, they can not enjoy their lives. Someone can even say that they are unhappy.

Partially it can be true, but not necessarily. You can be the responsible and joyful person at the same time. Responsibility does not exclude happiness. Nevertheless asking “To be or not to be responsible?” the answer is definite: to be! But you should always remember that everything is good in moderation. Everything we were talking about is in the main so-called personal responsibility. So, I think, it is important to mention social responsibility as well. Previously we discussed the meaning of citizenship. Now we can say that social responsibility is one of the components of citizenship, of relations between man and man in society.

According to Wikipedia, social responsibility is an ethical framework and suggests that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act for the benefit of society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. Social responsibility is important and plays a great role in every sphere of our life. So if we want to live in a prosperous and developing society, we all should be conscious not only of personal but also about social responsibility.

Each member of a community has his own responsibilities and duties towards himself and towards others which he has to fulfill to keep the cooperative spirit and to keep a balance not only between people but also between people and nature. Since the very childhood everyone has certain responsibilities: responsibilities in a family, at school, university, at work and so on. Everyone is expected to implement these responsibilities and their non-fulfillment proclaims disapproval and indignation So each of us more or less understands what responsibility is, what we need it for, and why it is very important. Every parent tries to raise the sense of responsibility in their child. While we are children, our parents are responsible for us and our personal and especially social responsibility are not that clearly visible or shown. But when we grow up, we take full responsibility for everything we do and for every our action. We can not just call our mother or father and make them solve our problems.

So being an adult means being responsible for yourself. Of course, there are many levels of responsibility and they differ from person to person. Only you can decide what your level is, whether you are responsible or not. Everything is up to you. So as a conclusion responsibility is one of the most important aspects of a human existence and personality. It is responsible for one’s actions that makes a human. It is a commonly accepted idea that the person who is not taking responsibility for what he has done should not and cannot be trusted, that he is not truly a human being But in the modern world we have the ever-growing tendency of the state to remove the idea of responsibility from new and new areas of human existence.

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