RESPONSIBILITY:IT IS AS IMPORTABT AS BREATHING

 

What has happened to any mention of responsibility in our public discourse?

 

Every human being has personal rights just by the fact that they are born on this earth. We all have the right to food, shelter, clothing, safety, education and medical care.  But there can never be a right without a corresponding responsibility. 

 

You have a right to have safe roads and I have the responsibility to drive safely to protect your children. When I studied ethics as an academic subject we were given a little ditty that summarized it is all very well. “I have the right to swing my arm wherever and whenever I want. I have the responsibility to never swing my arm where your nose begins!” No more need  be said. 

 

All this talk today about “my rights” is unmasked selfishness and is saying to my fellow human being, ‘I don’t care about your welfare.’ Rights and responsibilities are to human life as the two sides of your hand are to your body. You can never have one without the other. 

 

As a human being I need you to survive. We can only make it through the day because we are interconnected and respond to the needs of one another. 

 

I want to celebrate the power of responsibility that each of us can have in our lives and in our society and country.

 

I want to pay my taxes so that your granddaughters can go to school and be well trained women in this world. I want to make my contribution to the thriving of your granddaughters.

 

I want to follow all the rules of the road to ensure that you can drive safely from one end of the country to the other. I want to be responsible to stop at every stop sign and red light to make the crossing of your elderly father safe. I want to stop my vehicle in such a responsible manner that your elderly father is safe every step of the way.  I want to pull over when the ambulance comes rushing by my vehicle because it may be your child who is being rushed to the hospital. Contributing to your well-being is at the same time protecting my own health. 

 

I want to be grateful to our ancestors who worked hard to create a society that is safe to live in. Thank you for the taxes you paid, the support and guidance that you gave to our police departments. I can live in my house and feel secure that no one will break in and hold my family hostage. I am every so grateful that my children can play in the backyard and feel safe. The atmosphere of safety did not just happen. Your ancestors and my ancestors worked hard and responsibly to give us a system of safety and protection. Safety is worth so much to our society.

 

I am so grateful that I live in a society where I can go into any public space (malls, hospitals, restaurants) and not feel threatened that “there might be someone in there carrying a gun and they could start shooting!” Which one of our ancestors worked hard to have enforceable gun control? What a sense of responsibility!

 

And for you the reader: thank you for your sense of responsibility to work to promote the well-being of your own children and all the other children that go to school with them. Thank you for your responsible safe-driving, your paying taxes to help educate my grandchildren and providing needed medical services for our family as they age. Your practice of responsibility must be recognized We are all healthy because you have been a responsible citizen. Responsibility makes you a great human being.