Responsibility is knowing that something is wrong and choosing not to do it no matter how badly you yearn to or how big the pressure is.
We learn to be responsible as we grow by making wise choices and leaving behind bad influences. We learn to be responsible by learning from our mistakes. But the real question is, who teaches human beings to become responsible ?
Responsibility, in my opinion, is self-taught. Parents don't really teach you. Teachers, tutors, friends, counselors, nor police teach you. Every single individual learns for themselves.
Nice post, Daisy. I agree that learning how to be responsible is an "inside job." I also believe that it's incumbent on teacher, students, family - society in general - to provide young adults opportunities to learn responsiblity, to give children and young adults activities where they can experience the natural consequences of being responsible. For me, that happened when I had my first job; there were natural consequences that taught me about personal responsiblity. The other time was being involved in student government and drama in high school. I learned that the success (or failure) rested on my actions . . . took a few failures for that lesson to sink in.
ReplyDelete