Responsibility falls on everyone's shoulders

As children, we are instilled with a sense of responsibility, which Partners Advancing Character Education (PACE) describes as being accountable of your actions, pursuing a path of excellence and the exercising self-control.

If we ask for a dog or a cat, and our parents buy it for us, they stress to us the importance of being responsible and taking care of our pet, which meant feeding it, bathing it, making sure it gets enough exercise and cleaning up any messes it makes.

However, responsibility doesn’t stop at childhood. If anything, it becomes more important as we grow older because our actions affect other people. Responsibility is learned, practiced and ongoing. We all have responsibility thrust upon us, even when we don’t want it.

When you start a job, you have all kinds of responsibility put on your shoulders. If you are in sales, your duty is to take care of your customers. If you work in food service, it is your responsibility to make sure that the products you serve will not make your customers sick.

When you are a teacher, you are responsible with helping your students achieve success in your classroom. This might mean spending extra time with certain students to help them understand lessons and concepts they are struggling with.

If you become a captain of a college or professional football team, you are responsible with keeping the team together and making sure they are behaving on and off the field.

If you are a politician elected to office, it is your responsibility to uphold the promises you made in your campaign and the duties that go with your position.

However, part of the problem is that people are not being responsible with the power given to them and they make mistakes. We understand that mistakes happen every day, but if we are not accountable for our actions, there can be serious consequences.

One example of this happened back in September wth the Supreme Court held Washington state legislators in contempt for not submitting a plan for how they would fully fund public education. Because the Legislature did not live up to its responsibility of providing funding for basic education and a system of uniform to the schools throughout Washington state, they have to suffer tue reprecussions of their inaction.

One of the biggest responsibilities is raising children. Parents have a responsibility of making sure their children have the best education available to them. They are also responsible for making sure that their child knows the difference between right and wrong. However, there are other important players in a child’s life including teachers, coaches, administrators and counselors. Pastors, politicians, the media and anyone else that is in a position that influences the public has a part in a child’s growth because they can affect the world around them.

We should stress to today’s youth about the importance of responsibility to help prepare them for the world that’s out there. We should encourage them to be accountable for their behavior, not only when they make mistakes, but also when they are doing good things for the community. We should also encourage them to pass these lessons onto others.