Sunday, November 4, 2012

Responsibility Is...

...when something needs to be done (or at least should be) and it's obvious no-one else is going to address it
...so unless I take care of it, it won't get done.

In Biblical times responsibility came with being granted authority of some kind---a reward for displaying the intelligence, integrity, and aptitude for being worthy of a certain position or of a high rank.
So being resposible was part of being allowed power-and-control over certain select factions.

In the modern world it's more of a series of mandated expectations and obligations required of everybody-in-general unconditionally.
In fact, the more prestige and authority someone has, the more exonerated they seem to be.
It's those who have the least amount of control over the general course of things who end up being held the most "responsible" for things-in-general.  Quite the opposite of Biblical times.

Also, in the modern world, the concept of responsibility seems to encompass retaliation and punishment: as in "making someone answer for" either a wrongdoing or a serious mistake, especially one resulting in damage, destruction, injury, or death...or, in some cases, even personal insult---psychological damage, so to speak.

Personally, I wouldn't mind passing a lot of my own responsibilities along to someone more able and knowledgable than I.

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