Pro/Active Responsibility

Prisión del Condado de Mantras, Colombia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Responsibility. What does it means to be Responsible? Responsibility is defined thus:

1. the state or fact of being responsible.

2. an instance of being responsible: The responsibility for this mess is yours!

3. a particular burden of obligation upon one who is responsible: the responsibilities of authority.

4. a person or thing for which one is responsible: A child is a responsibility to its parents.

5. reliability or dependability, especially in meeting debts or payments.

and/or:

1.	the state or position of being responsible
2.	a person or thing for which one is responsible
3.	the ability or authority to act or decide on one’s own, without supervision

Accountability – A Trash-Can and a Good Neighbor

Image by selva via Flickr

Yesterday, I was sitting and watching some T.V. (cartoons as usual, such an addict I am) and my mother’s neighbor on the right side of us comes over to speak with my mother. Turns out his girlfriend felt that she might have hit my mother’s Trash-Can and they felt that if that was true, they wanted to replace it. I thought to myself, “Wow! Someone’s taking accountability for their actions! Or trying to at least.” I felt it rather admirable of them despite I was pretty sure I had seen a crack in my mother’s Trash-Can a few days earlier, so I’m not certain they meant “THAT DAY” or if they meant a different day of the week.

Now, I really haven’t seen very many people taking “Responsibility” or “Accountability” for their actions within the last couple years or so, especially even now. The attitudes I’ve often seen as of late displayed by others is, “Oh too bad, so sad, cry me a river then build a bridge and get over it.” Or no one speaks up at all and merely go silent. People shouldn’t HAVE to feel afraid to speak their TRUTH, but it seems that they do, especially for taking “Responsibility”. I can’t say I blame them, but if you don’t speak your truth, stand up for what you believe and feel is right, then when you really require it most – do you think others will feel so inclined to be truthful and “accountable” as well? Or do you feel they would desire to crawl up into a “little ball of silence” and pretend they don’t exist as well? Not to mention if you DON’T stand up for what you believe in, then you may be forced to live under the control, thoughts, and feelings of others who may be telling you to “Conform” even when you feel it will be “Bad” for you. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” and sometimes people truly do have our best interests at heart. At the end of the day however, it is US who decide truly what is best, what is right, what is our truth, and more importantly WHO we are. We should NEVER allow anyone else to define US.

Now while I know this is not political in any space of the imagination, there is a quote from V for Vendetta, I’d like to state because I feel there is much power within it and it emphasis so well how – if we let others rule us we willingly surrender that power, but if we choose to take that power back, they have no power over us. So here it is, “People should not be afraid of their Government. Government should be afraid of their people”.

Image via Wikipedia

 

Thank you.

~May you be blessed on your path in all your ways, Namaste~