My friend Susan Price proposes that personal responsibility is evolving. She says:
Is our culture evolving into one where each person will have more choice and take more (appropriate) responsibility? Where are we on the curve, if so - and what can we do to further it?
I obviously assume it's happening, and I think it's a good thing.
Susan, I want a little more meat on your question-bone. For instance, what do you mean by "(appropriate) responsibility"? Is that loaded or what? What would be inappropriate responsibility? A mass-murderer owning up to his collaborator that he missed a few?
I'll grant you this: People on most of the planet have far more choices than ever before. There are many more of us, living far longer lives, with vastly more opportunities for self-expression than ever. That part seems to be true and ever propgressing at a rapid pace. But are people perceiving that they have more real choice and are we enjoying that perception? Not most of us. Most people I encounter feel at least as trapped in their life as they feel at choice.
So that brings me to ask you Susan: Explain what you mean by "take more appropriate responsibility?"
Here is what Responsibility Redefined has taught me about that. Taking more responsibility ("appropriate" is redundant) means having what you want and wanting what you have. It means being free. It means recognizing your choices—an internal freedom owned through any situation, even a bleak one. It means acknowledging your power to choose, to create, and to attract your life whether you like it or not.
So I'm not sure if we are more responsible or not. What I know is that we can be if we want to be. If you'd like to develop a greater sense of responsibility yourself, or in your family or team, I do think I know how to help you do that. And if enough of us do that, then maybe we can someday say that people are more responsible today than they were yesterday.
Related Posts
Christopher,
This question of responsibility finds its way into conversations daily. You know the progression: talking, talking, talking, then a single “isn’t it awful,” “I hate fill-in-the-blank,” “the war,” “global warming,” can turn the conversation into a victim-a-thon.
I think we all want to feel free to choose, to say no, or yes, to have what we want, and want what we have. I think we all want to embrace our power to create, and attract to our lives that which brings us closer to self-acutalization. We want to make a positive contribution to the world in which we live, take care of our family, have friends, enjoy life.
If one feels powerless to affect their relationship with the world, people seem irresponsible. Respectively, to those who feel empowered, others by defiinition are responsible. We see, and experience, a reflection of who we are.
I’m not saying anything new here. You’ve said it. Others say it. But how do we affect real change in our perceptions?
To change our experience, we need to unlearn what we’ve been taught, and learn (or relearn) to see the world and our place in it from a different vantage point. We have to be prepared to turn a conversation around. And we need tools to do that.
It’s a long process and requires a commitment to work at it every day.
Change in perception tool #1: Mistakes and conflict are “opportunities to learn.” That does not mean anything more than what it says. We don’t have to “all get along” or love others and accept everything they throw our way. It may mean we decide to steer clear of some folks, or change our relationship with them, or develop a personal skill that allows us to fend off their words and actions (intended or otherwise) that might undermine, intimidate, throw off balance.
I love this stuff, don’t you?
The more we talk about it, the more real it becomes.