Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Responsibilities must not be Avoided

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Responsibilities must not be Avoided

It is now considered a truth that human nature tries to avoid the negative consequences both consciously and as the result of the unconscious mind, where the psychological impact of the fame and ill-fame is decided by the consequences from the early childhood by our parents. Thus we at our different stages of life react as it is in our unconscious since early life. We tend to like and hold to the positive impacts of an action but seem to avoid the unfavorable results and even put it on the shoulder of others. However, this question needs to be answered that if someone enjoys the outcomes as a result of the consequences, why not to face the negative consequences as well? While we cry for our rights and enjoy while receiving them, why don’t realize that we need to perform some very important responsibilities as well.

The famous writer Noam Chomsky says, “Responsibility I believe accrues through privilege. People like you and me have an unbelievable amount of privilege and therefore we have a huge amount of responsibility. We live in free societies where we are not afraid of the police; we have extraordinary wealth available to us by global standards. If you have those things, then you have the kind of responsibility that a person does not have if he or she is slaving seventy hours a week to put food on the table; a responsibility at the very least to inform yourself about power. Beyond that, it is a question of whether you believe in moral certainties or not.” 

How does it is practiced that when a businessman enjoys the profit in good days as return and in bad days he also faces the loss and feels himself responsible for all the decisions that has led the company to loss, then what on earth has happened to our nation, specially the politicians that they do not admit their mistakes, and often blunders? Why has this society been ruined in terms of responsibility? Every single man in the hierarchy of the society blames the other person and frees himself? Why on earth is the top hierarchy of the country not accountable to law? Why is it that the poor and the weaker are expected to be more responsible than the rich and the authoritative people? Can the poor perform better than the rich in contributing for the society and supporting the people in coming out of troubles and problems? The poor, themselves, are caught in the quagmire of troubles, how can they be more responsible to the society?

The politicians, on the other hand, are keeping themselves aloof of all the responsibilities. They are, in fact, practicing the blame game to score points because the political culture demands so!

Rectifying the mistakes is a rectifying step but arrives when someone admits the mistakes. The blame game turns to no point and there is no any win-win situation, we only have loss-loss situation in the game theory of the blame games. It is a debate of egos and the egos never surrender. Blame games, political conspiracies and personal self interest achievements have resulted to a huge damage to the country’s economic and political development, which can be seen that the 50% of the population has been pushed to the darkness of poverty, which is also the mother of all evils and crimes.

It can be observed in our society that mostly the children are not nourished with a sense of true responsibility. As they grow up, they do not seem to realize what their responsibilities are towards their fellow human beings and towards their society. Mostly, they are taught to fulfill certain responsibilities which are limited to their individual lives. They do not seem to realize how they fit within a society and what their responsibilities are as responsible citizens.

Another observation is that mostly people expect the society to fulfill their rights, but they themselves do not want to be held responsible towards the others. Every individual thinks others are responsible to take care of their rights but does not realize that thinking in such a way will divide the whole society in alienated individuals whose goals are to pursue their own motives. They seem to fear responsibility and that is one of the worst things to do as a social being. As Frank Crane has put it, “Responsibility is the thing people dread the most of all. Yet it is the one thing in the world that develops us, gives us manhood or womanhood fiber.” 

It is important to remember that rights bring responsibility, and the responsibility makes you accountable and accountability sees no blame. Passing the buck would never solve the problem. The responsibility would keep on being transferred to others and would never reach to the stage of realization. The great nations of world have, as a matter of fact, realized this golden principle that they themselves have the responsibility of building their nations and solving their issues. And, that’s why they can be easily differentiated as more prosperous and developed nations of the world.

Definitely, all the members of the society must perform their responsibilities but the leaders of the nation must be the trend setters. They need to set examples for others by performing their responsibilities without any sort of negligence. The governments that realize their responsibilities and do not fall short of providing the people their rights are mostly appreciated and at the same time supported by their people. People, finding the governments and leaders, responsible citizens tend to do the same and thus lend a hand in the development of the country.

Dilawar Sherzai is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at Outlookafghanistan@gmail.com

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