What or who are you really and truly
actually and honestly
ultimately responsible for?
Hi there!
This is no longer an active blog. Sorry about that! I've moved my most intriguing questions and answers to my personal blog, shirleytwofeathers. There are some good links here, so feel free to explore, have a great day!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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4 Comments:
Who I am responsible for is easy. I am responsible for myself, my 2 dogs, my 2 sheep, and to a certain extent my aging parents.
What I am responsible for is a more difficult question. My first response was that I am responsible for what goes into and comes out of my mouth.
But then I started wondering if that responsibility extended into being responsible to actually know all about what it was that I put into my mouth? or not? And how could I really know what (for example) is actually IN my breakfast cereal?
And that broke down to I am responsible for the choices that I make. And that turned into.. a long rambling questioning about what does that mean exactly? If I make a mistake in choosing something I thought would be good for me but then it turned out not to be good, does that mean that I am responsible for the consequences?
What does responsibility actually mean anyway? Does being responsible for my choices extend to being responsible for the outcomes of my choices?
I don't think I'm necessarily responsible for the outcomes of my choices.. because how can I know what they would be..
So my answer to this question doesn't really answer it at all, it just raises more questions, for which I do take full responsibility.
I am responsible for living up to my word.
I can always change my mind or choose differently later, but as long as I have made a promise to take care of someone or something, I am responsible for living up to that duty until I can make arrangements for it to be handled is some other way.
This question makes me very nervous. I really don't want to think about who or what I am responsible for! It's too overwhelming when you list it out, break it down! It starts out with my daughter, my granddaughter, my cats and dogs, my family, my friends. My bills, my house, my yard. My job. Then it snowballs into the poor, the homeless, the earth, the environment, homeless animals, the endangered species of the world.......
Yes, they are all to varying levels and degrees of responsibility but just sitting here typing about it makes my stomach jumpy and my brain nervous!
I do feel like now that I'm older in some ways I have LESS to be responsible for. Specifically, being the single mother of 2 small children is not a responsibility that I miss now that my kids are grown! But my sense of responsibility has always been gigantic and overwhelming and I remember my mom telling me over and over "Cindy, you can't save the world", but doggone it, I'm sure gonna try!
Melissa. I like your answer a lot. And I think you have really hit on something big. If I really took responsibility for every single thing I said. If I was in integrity just in that one small area of the words I speak... wow... that would be big!
And Cindy. I love you, but how can you possibly be responsible for everything? You cannot be responsible for what I say and do. And I know you are not responsible for the weather, or the war...
No wonder this question made you nervous and jumpy. I'd be nervous and jumpy too if I thought it rested all on me. Yikes!!
I do agree that we take part in the world around us, and that we contribute to chaos, just as we contribue to the greater good. And I agree that everything we do has an effect on the greater world around us. But that doesn't mean we are actually and ultimately responsible!
I looked the word responsibility up in the dictionary and it means: Answerable to or liable for.
And with that in mind, I would have to say that I am answerable to and liable for the way I live my life, how I walk my talk, and for the agreements I make ... nothing less and nothing more.
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