I will guide you, lead you, call you, direct you, embrace you. I will do everything to get your attention -- except I will not order you to do as I suggest. Why not? Why wouldn’t I? I won’t because I gave you free will. I gave you free will for a reason. I didn’t give you free will just for the fun of it. It is in your best interest to have free will and good will and good cheer because free will requires you to take hold and be responsible. Good will and good cheer are part of the package. Responsibility is not to be confused with blame. Blame is fallacy, amounting to My children’s shoving away responsibility.
What does it mean then that you are responsible?
It means that you are far-seeing. It means that you care about the world and you care about yourself. You take responsibility. It is not foisted on you. You take it. Responsibility is a freeing sort of thing. You give yourself credit. You know there is no end to responsibility. You are responsible for victories just as much as you are responsible for blocks. When you take responsibility for yourself, you don’t make excuses. You own up, and you own up to yourself. No one made you do anything. You made yourself. Nor do you make a big thing of obstacles. You take care of them. You don’t take setbacks. You keep going. If one rope breaks, you find another or borrow or weave another. You do not just shrug your shoulders. You don’t just say there is nothing you can do. In effect, being responsible is the same as telling the truth.
Responsibility is a good thing. It is a no-nonsense way of life. You are responsible for your existence, and you are responsible for the ways and means of your existence. You are the star of your life. You do not find ways to weasel out of your responsibility. If you are a rower of a ship, you carry your own weight. You are a carrier of strength.
You have the free will to take responsibility.
You have free will, or you don’t. You are not the controller of everything, yet you do not wash your hands of everything either. Responsible, you do not abscond from responsibility. You don’t say: “Well, there is nothing I could do about it.” If there is a tornado, you clean up after it. You do not litter, yet you pick up a piece of litter that someone has left without a big to-do.
Responsibility is not about what someone else does or doesn’t do. It is about you. You have a responsibility to recognize the influence you have. Responsibility is opposed to helplessness. Responsible, you do not shrug your shoulders and feign irresponsibility. You stand up for yourself, and you stand up for others. You do not isolate yourself as if you have no say in the running of the gears of life.
Responsible, you pitch in. You point to yourself. Responsible, you have energy, and you move. Responsible, you get things done. Being responsible does not mean that you caused something. It means you take care of it. If the table isn’t set, you set it. Responsible, you don’t say: “That’s not my job.”
Responsible, you do not sit on your laurels. You undertake, and you initiate. You do not wait. You do not cry over spilt milk. You wipe it up. I do not say you are the only one responsible. I say you take responsibility. You are a respecter of the Universe, and you grasp your role in it. You look to yourself. You have self-reliance. You take initiative.