On Responsibility

        Edith L., 14, Renaissance College


        Responsibility is a big word that is hard to learn the true definition of. Some people learn to take responsibility from a young age, whilst some never learn to do so. Help is something everyone should treasure and be thankful towards when it comes from others. It does not mean people can take it for granted and rely on it. People should be responsible for their actions and their lives. Helping them may not be the right strategy as it would sometimes make things worse.

        Life is given to a person so they can live the most of it and take charge of it. In most situations in life, we are given choices to choose between. These alternatives lead to different consequences, which usually has a good outcome or a bad outcome. It is all up to the decision of the person. If they choose the one with a bad outcome, they should never rely on anyone else to help them. It is their decision to have caused all this trouble so they should feel and be responsible for their own actions and their life if that is the route they choose to follow. Recently on the news, a sixteen year-old boy from a well-off family sexually assaulted a teenage girl on the minibus. The boy was sued and his parents went around to find teachers and other judges from the court to put in a good word for their son. However, the boy repeated his actions twice more within two weeks. This time his parents did not help him as they knew, even if they did, he would not change. Helping those who chose or are not willing to improve themselves is not worth it. In this case, the boy chose to repeat the shameful actions without feeling thankful and repaying his parents for helping him. The parents had made a good and reasonable decision to leave him alone. He will need to be responsible for himself and his ruined life as he chose to. He expected his parents to help him, which in fact wasted their money trying to help a hopeless young man. Letting people be responsible for themselves is one of the best lessons they would learn in life.

        Since alternatives are given, people should not expect others to help them after they chose their route, and definitely not blame them for the decisions and consequences caused. This is because no matter how others have influenced a person, one shall always be able to decide on their final choice, meaning that the person they should blame on is in fact themselves. Since the problem is caused by anyone else, people should understand that blaming themselves is not enough, but to stand up again to feel responsible for their actions and start improving.

        Of course, there are exceptions such as when a situation was not caused by man in any way, like natural disasters. These are situations where people do not even have the basic needs to survive, which are the only ones when help would be required and can make matters better. However, once everything is sorted, they must no longer rely on others’ resources but must use their knowledge to help themselves.

        To all organisms, life is extremely precious. There is only one lifetime for one organism to live through. In order to make a lifetime useful and live one with no regrets, it is necessary to take on responsibility. Help would be required at times but never always. The only person to make your life successful is you, not anyone else. Be responsible for your life, for your friends and family, and for your future. Learn to help yourself: it will lead you down the road to success.