Responsibility: Response and Ability

- UMA SHRIPATHI

It is a predisposition that if one has the freedom, he has full right to do what he wants. Usually, especially in the modern day, most people love to enjoy Rights, but forget about their duties. 

Responsibility comprises two words: Response, and ability – which makes it the ability to respond. Yes. It is the ability to respond to our own self, to the situations and to the day to day interactions that we have with our selves, or with others or with things around us, to be able to respond to professional, societal, environmental, personal demands and so on in such a way that all those elements are satisfied in return for everything he enjoys that are given by those elements at different points of time.

In India, the media plays a very important role in educating the masses. One could say, it has absolutely full freedom of telecasting and broadcasting, be it print, electronic or new media. So much so that even this sector is being used mostly as a mode of entertainment rather than information, which was the primary reason for the media coming into existence. 

Also, the programmes on the media, being broadcast through the most recent technologies, have left man being nothing more than a couch potato; the notion that someone does not own a computer with an internet facility is considered shameful and is looked down upon. Not only the media, but also with home appliances and any other equipment one can think of. The bigger (the smaller in today’s world), the more complicated, the faster, the sleeker and shinier it is, the more one is looked up to. One way of looking at this scenario is that the media is not responsible. It would be nice, if by entertaining the masses, the media could make people more outgoing rather than being confined to their chairs for six sevenths of the day!

Another way of looking at it is that the general public is not responsible. They have the greatest most recent tech equipment, but do they have time for anything else other than those pieces of equipment? No, it does not seem so. With all the glamour, he forgets that it is his responsibility to stay healthy, exercise, socialise and so on. Time waits for none. It is as it is. So it wouldn’t be fair if man blamed his laziness on the ‘lack of time.’ In all the Freedom one has in doing-what-he-wants, one should remember the responsibility to make time for all those ‘extra’ things.

One should remember his responsibilities towards ones kinsmen, nature and work. Freedom coupled with responsibilities is what makes man a social animal. If he was devoid of responsibilities he would be no more than a quadruped that does what it likes and has nobody to answer to.

Bearing responsibilities alone will make a person irritable, unsociable, touchy and unpleasant. So one can’t be enjoyed without the other. A perfect life is a perfect blend of Freedom and Responsibilities – a true recipe for perfection!