Taking Responsibility

While walking home from the bus stop today, I passed a school. This school, like a few others in the area, has put dozens of plastic squares in their chain link fences, acting as pixels to form words like "Integrity" and "Perseverance." Today, however, I noticed that some of the plastic pieces had fallen out from one of the words. Partly to be a good neighbor, and partly for the puzzle of finding out where the pieces should go, I put the fallen pieces back on their places. I then, out of curiosity, checked to see what word I had just put back together: Responsibility.

I thought about responsibility during the rest of my walk home. When a person has a responsibility to do something, that means that they have a moral obligation to do it. Such a person is expected to take responsibility for that thing they're supposed to do. They are supposed to do it, or at least to see to it that it gets done. Having a responsibility means we're supposed to do something, and taking responsibility means we actually.

In my case, I didn't have a responsibility to help, but I took responsibility anyway. It wasn't my responsibility to put those plastic pieces back in the fence. I wasn't the person who put the pieces up in the first place. I wasn't the one who knocked the pieces out. I had nothing to do with those pieces of plastic, where they were, or where they were supposed to be. Yet, I chose to help out anyway. I cleaned up the "littering" of those few plastic pieces, and I fixed the sign by putting the pieces where they belonged. That was a good thing. I didn't have to help, but I chose to help anyway. I didn't have a responsibility, but I took responsibility,and now that sign is fixed.

We should all take responsibility, at least for the responsibilities of ours, and it's good to also take the responsibility to help others with theirs.