responsibility Essay Examples

Responsibility Essay Example

Introduction

We all know about responsibility. But, the truth of the matter is, not everyone is responsible; some people are irresponsible. There are known phrases about the responsibility that each one of us has heard at least once in a lifetime. We have at times heard these phrases whether directly said to us or other times to other people. Such phrases include, “You don’t have a sense of responsibility!” or sometimes, “You are irresponsible!” The thing is, not everyone understands the true meaning of the words responsible, responsibility and irresponsible. We will expound more on the word responsibility in details on this essay. So what does responsibility mean?

Defining Responsibility

Responsibility is one of our character traits as human beings. It means that a person is accountable for their actions and can face the consequences of the actions that they committed. Going by the definition of Oxford dictionary, it defines responsibility as the state or fact of having an obligation to deal with a thing or taking control of someone. There are different forms of responsibilities, and the way to execute these responsibilities occurs at different intervals. The sense of responsibility is not inborn. It does not appear magically; it is something that everyone should strive to cultivate for themselves and make it part of the personality that they have. When a person lacks this characteristic trait, they come off as not having positive features. When you are a responsible person, you are capable of taking a decent position in society and will gain the respect of others. Bear in mind that the community views a person as a social misfit if they do not cater for their responsibilities.

Why Being Responsible is Important

When someone lacks a sense of responsibility, it can be dangerous in some cases and extremely irritating, especially when they refuse to cope with their duties. There are certain job positions which require a person to be extremely responsible. These jobs, if there are handed over to an irresponsible person can lead to consequences that are tragic and in other events a catastrophe. In an imaginative scenario, we can use the example of a student who did not write their essay on time. This action will render them to be labeled as irresponsible by their professor. In such a case, no physical damage is evident from the student’s irresponsibility except maybe an emotional damage. But if the set scenario were of an employee, operating on a nuclear power plant, then they push the wrong button. The button, in turn, causes an explosion merely because they were not attentive enough - that would be a catastrophe. You will find that there would be terrible consequences caused by the lack of responsibility and can damage people’s lives as well as harm the environment. It may be true that these two scenarios may sound a bit exaggerated, but from the second example, you get to understand how crucial being responsible is.

Personal Responsibility: Should You Be Responsible?

Personal responsibility entails numerous obligations which vary from one person to the other. Some people claim that being able to handle responsibility is not in their nature. They say that they have tried to be responsible, but nothing seems to work. I don’t consider this to be fair enough. I firmly believe that being responsible comes more natural to some and others have to work on it. It is the reason why, for some people, being responsible is easy while for others it is a struggle. From my own experience, I can attest that it is not easy staying responsible more so if you’re planning to slack off and forget about the duties that you may have.

People perceive those who are responsible as too tensed, stiff and seem not to enjoy life. Others think that they are unhappy. In some cases, yes, it may be true, but it is not a fact. You can afford to be joyful and responsible at the same time. Responsible does not disregard happiness. So yes, you should be responsible and always remember that moderation is key to a responsible lifestyle.

Social Responsibility

We will start by defining the meaning of citizenship. Citizenship is the status of being a citizen of a given country. Components that make a good citizen are many. Therefore, we can add that social responsibility as another component of citizenship, the relations between man and society. Wikipedia defines social responsibility as a framework that is ethical and an entity, for example, an individual or an organization as being obligated to act for the benefit of the society as a whole. It is a duty that should be performed by everyone to maintain the balance between ecosystems and the economy. It is vital for everyone to make sure that the environment is clean and safe. Social responsibility is vital and plays a major role in every aspect of our livelihood. For all of us to exist in a developing and prosperous society, we should remain mindful of both social and personal responsibilities. Every member of a given community has duties and responsibilities towards others and themselves and has to find a way to fulfill them. It will retain the cooperative spirit and maintain a balance between people, and between people and nature. From a young age, we all have responsibilities that we are accountable for. They can be responsibilities at school, work, family, university and the like. Everyone must implement these responsibilities, and if one disregards them, they proclaim dissatisfaction and disapproval. By now, we fully understand what responsibility is, why we need it and why it is crucial in our everyday lives. You will find that every parent strives to instill a sense of responsibility in their children. As children, our parents are entirely responsible for us because both our social and personal responsibilities are not yet visible. It only happens when we become grownups. This is when taking full responsibility for each of our actions and everything else that we do. At this stage, we cannot afford to call our parents to ask them to solve our problems. At this period, one realizes that once you become an adult, you are responsible for yourself. There are different levels of responsibilities that we have to differ from one person to the other. There is no one else but you who can decide what level of responsibility you have reached.

Conclusion

From above, we can establish that responsibility comes along with a sense of selflessness. When you are responsible, you will not only look out for your interests but those of others that are important to you too. This means that your actions can affect another person’s life either positively or negatively. It all starts with you. Learn what your capabilities and limitations. Remember that the effects of ignoring both social and personal responsibilities are adverse in a specific local to all the stakeholders. It is all about the choices that we decide to make, and if we choose to embrace the aspects of responsibilities and coexist by embracing kindness, we will emerge as victorious. We all have a moral obligation, and that is to protect the environment. Let us be united and learn to become our brother’s keeper.