Reflecting on the events in my life, time and again I remember being told about being responsible and elaborately explained what my responsibility/ies were. As I grew I was amazed as to how my responsibility/ies grew with age, with each situation, within each domain of my activity be it my life at home, school, college or at work (later part of my life). Some also questioned me as to whether I performed my responsibility well or not. Some at a variety of instances accused me of being irresponsible or simply saying “shrugging responsibility”. I am sure many in their life too must have experienced these many a time.
It is these comments, accusations, explanations and expectations that intrigued me to ponder over the meaning of responsibility. This quest has taken me through a self journey of events involving people and at a variety of situations thus enabling me to converge upon the meaning of this commonly used word. A word many don’t want to hear about, a word that triggers their emotions, a word when used breaks hearts and snaps a healthy relationship, a word which people would love to shun for they think that it makes them Atlas (who bears the onus of the entire universe on his shoulders). Despite these we still find that when this word is converted into action and applied enhances the respect for that individual in others and its repeated display establishes a fair amount of credibility in him. This elevates his position in the minds of people thereby widening his social network as many people would prefer to be associated with him. However the choice is dependant on the individual and many a time it is due to the feeble understanding of this word that they get into a Hamletian situation “to be or not to be (responsible)”. This dilemma had encompassed me too and it is after a lot of deliberations, personal experiences and the learnings that I gained from others experiences that I have today been able to decipher the true meaning of it so as to apply it in pathways of my life.
To me the word RESPONSIBILITY seems a conjoined word comprising of 2 very powerful words – One which depicts a skill (RESPONSE) and the other which involves the individual’s competency (ABILITY). Therefore arithmetically it can be represented as RESPONSIBILITY = RESPONSE + ABILITY.
Response is the manner in which we act to/ on situations, in different conditions, situations, periods of time with either one or many individuals. Ability on the other hand can simply mean the capacity of the individual to do things – it may be self permitting or self limiting to him. On close observation it can be noticed that it is the ABILITY which actually influences the RESPONSIVENESS of the individual.
Many a time we find that life puts us through a lot of tests whereby the expectations of others from us is not just to overcome them but to excel. This unknown anticipation makes us tread on the razor’s edge of decisively indecisive state. Now when a man has been bestowed with the ability (to help or to perform or to act) and he responds in a likewise manner (as expected by the other who is anticipating) then he is termed as a RESPONSIBLE person. However, should the same man bestowed with ability refrain from responding in the same circumstances is termed as an IRRESPONSIBLE person. Hence arithmetically;
HAS ABILITY And DOES RESPOND = RESPONSIBLE
HAS ABILITY but DOES NOT RESPOND = IRRESPONSIBLE
Well, the story does not stop here, what if the person has not been bestowed with the ability but responds as expected by the other who is anticipating then does it mean that he is very responsible? Or if in the same situation he were not to respond then does it mean that he is irresponsible too?
Looking closely at these two paradigms it can be intelligently deciphered and stated only if we look at the outcomes of the two responses. In the former case whatever the outcome, it is evident that the amount of risk taken by the individual supersedes in all aspects of his action. This therefore can be used as a strong indicator of irresponsibility. The latter paradigm indicates his inability to perform any action thereby putting him into a phase of non-responsiveness thus the ideal term that can be used would be NON–RESPONSIBLE person, and should a person anticipate any response from this individual proves his stupidity. Thus we can say that
HAS NO ABILITY And DOES RESPOND = IRRESPONSIBLE
HAS NO ABILITY But DOES NOT RESPOND = NON-RESPONSIBLE
However, giving another view to former of the above statement, sometimes it is observed that the individual weighs his self respect with the risk and hence performs the action. It is individual dependant that one individual may at this point of time be internally expecting an able person to aid/ help him at that moment of time and not speak up/ ask hence not getting any help. The ABLE others in this case definitely comment “Only a crying baby gets milk – you should have asked”. While another may ask the ABLE others but get rebuked or face stiff refusal/ denials. Hence, both succumb to perform or respond in a manner they deem fit and necessary whatever the dangers that they undergo or undertake. It is rather a shame that the others who are ABLE are so insensitive to this individual that they refrain to help him and further quote “if I help him now, he will become dependant on me?”. These insensitive people fail to understand that they having the ability to help and not responding (for whatever reason) as anticipated indicates them to be IRRESPONSIBLE.
These are the derivations from my understandings from all those experiences that I have encountered, lived and borne during the productive days of my life. We play a variety of roles in our lives today and we can’t shirk away from this powerful word called “responsibility”. Should one live by the true sense of the word and couple it with a humane approach is bound to gain respite from insensitivities of others and make them better individuals. Individuals who are:- responsible citizens to their nation; responsible parents to their children; responsible teachers to their students; responsible corporate professionals and great contributors in all respects
It is these comments, accusations, explanations and expectations that intrigued me to ponder over the meaning of responsibility. This quest has taken me through a self journey of events involving people and at a variety of situations thus enabling me to converge upon the meaning of this commonly used word. A word many don’t want to hear about, a word that triggers their emotions, a word when used breaks hearts and snaps a healthy relationship, a word which people would love to shun for they think that it makes them Atlas (who bears the onus of the entire universe on his shoulders). Despite these we still find that when this word is converted into action and applied enhances the respect for that individual in others and its repeated display establishes a fair amount of credibility in him. This elevates his position in the minds of people thereby widening his social network as many people would prefer to be associated with him. However the choice is dependant on the individual and many a time it is due to the feeble understanding of this word that they get into a Hamletian situation “to be or not to be (responsible)”. This dilemma had encompassed me too and it is after a lot of deliberations, personal experiences and the learnings that I gained from others experiences that I have today been able to decipher the true meaning of it so as to apply it in pathways of my life.
To me the word RESPONSIBILITY seems a conjoined word comprising of 2 very powerful words – One which depicts a skill (RESPONSE) and the other which involves the individual’s competency (ABILITY). Therefore arithmetically it can be represented as RESPONSIBILITY = RESPONSE + ABILITY.
Response is the manner in which we act to/ on situations, in different conditions, situations, periods of time with either one or many individuals. Ability on the other hand can simply mean the capacity of the individual to do things – it may be self permitting or self limiting to him. On close observation it can be noticed that it is the ABILITY which actually influences the RESPONSIVENESS of the individual.
Many a time we find that life puts us through a lot of tests whereby the expectations of others from us is not just to overcome them but to excel. This unknown anticipation makes us tread on the razor’s edge of decisively indecisive state. Now when a man has been bestowed with the ability (to help or to perform or to act) and he responds in a likewise manner (as expected by the other who is anticipating) then he is termed as a RESPONSIBLE person. However, should the same man bestowed with ability refrain from responding in the same circumstances is termed as an IRRESPONSIBLE person. Hence arithmetically;
HAS ABILITY And DOES RESPOND = RESPONSIBLE
HAS ABILITY but DOES NOT RESPOND = IRRESPONSIBLE
Well, the story does not stop here, what if the person has not been bestowed with the ability but responds as expected by the other who is anticipating then does it mean that he is very responsible? Or if in the same situation he were not to respond then does it mean that he is irresponsible too?
Looking closely at these two paradigms it can be intelligently deciphered and stated only if we look at the outcomes of the two responses. In the former case whatever the outcome, it is evident that the amount of risk taken by the individual supersedes in all aspects of his action. This therefore can be used as a strong indicator of irresponsibility. The latter paradigm indicates his inability to perform any action thereby putting him into a phase of non-responsiveness thus the ideal term that can be used would be NON–RESPONSIBLE person, and should a person anticipate any response from this individual proves his stupidity. Thus we can say that
HAS NO ABILITY And DOES RESPOND = IRRESPONSIBLE
HAS NO ABILITY But DOES NOT RESPOND = NON-RESPONSIBLE
However, giving another view to former of the above statement, sometimes it is observed that the individual weighs his self respect with the risk and hence performs the action. It is individual dependant that one individual may at this point of time be internally expecting an able person to aid/ help him at that moment of time and not speak up/ ask hence not getting any help. The ABLE others in this case definitely comment “Only a crying baby gets milk – you should have asked”. While another may ask the ABLE others but get rebuked or face stiff refusal/ denials. Hence, both succumb to perform or respond in a manner they deem fit and necessary whatever the dangers that they undergo or undertake. It is rather a shame that the others who are ABLE are so insensitive to this individual that they refrain to help him and further quote “if I help him now, he will become dependant on me?”. These insensitive people fail to understand that they having the ability to help and not responding (for whatever reason) as anticipated indicates them to be IRRESPONSIBLE.
These are the derivations from my understandings from all those experiences that I have encountered, lived and borne during the productive days of my life. We play a variety of roles in our lives today and we can’t shirk away from this powerful word called “responsibility”. Should one live by the true sense of the word and couple it with a humane approach is bound to gain respite from insensitivities of others and make them better individuals. Individuals who are:- responsible citizens to their nation; responsible parents to their children; responsible teachers to their students; responsible corporate professionals and great contributors in all respects
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