Personal Response

Throughout life everyone must accept responsibility for something at one point or another. Each person does this differently considering everyone is unique. Some take longer to realize what they must do to accept responsibility for their actions while others feel that they must accept responsibility not only for themselves but also others. After reading a few entries from my journal I found two examples that demonstrate how and why individuals accept responsibility for themselves and others.

July 11 / 09

                Living on the farm means that I must accept many responsibilities and last week I gained another. I found a kitten without her mother and have decided to care for her so that she won’t die. I feel that it is my responsibility to make sure that she stays healthy and survives without her birth mother. Since similar occasions have occurred in my life and the kittens haven’t survived I am nervous about taking on such a high responsibility, but know I must. However, after a whole week I think I have made some progress. I know how hard it is to not only know what to do but also just to do it. After reading an excerpt from Snow Falling on Cedars I was comforted to know that it isn’t just me that has difficulty knowing what to do. It explained how a mother felt responsible for caring for her daughter. The mother thought that she had to accept responsibility for her daughter’s actions because her daughter was still young and foolish, but in the end the daughter was able to grow up and take on her own responsibility. I can connect this experience to the one I am in right now. It is my responsibility to keep this kitten alive but I also am aware that one day, and by the looks of her it will be soon, she will be able to take on the responsibility of surviving on her own. She will be able to feed and clean herself without my help. After a whole week of caring for this kitten I know that I will be reluctant to accept that she doesn’t need me anymore. Although I am scared of not being needed by her I will be relieved that she has made it through hopefully the hardest time of her life.

January 18 / 11

                As diplomas are approaching I become more aware of the responsibility I have to keep my marks high. I place a high standard on my marks and know that it is my responsibility to keep them at the level that I have them at. Recently I read a poem called The Lather and was able to connect it to my current situation with keeping my marks high. The expectations that the young man has to fulfill his obligations to his father mirror those that my parents and I have placed on me to achieve such high marks. One line in the poem reads “fiendish smears that won’t rinse out” which I can connect to a bad mark. I feel the disappointment of my parents and myself before I have even told them about it. I know that I should have tried harder or done something differently but the mark can’t be erased. I know that it is my responsibility to achieve a good mark and know that it is my mistake for not doing so. However, when I achieve a good mark I don’t hesitate to let my parents know. I feel proud that I have achieved the mark and in doing so have taken on the responsibility to achieve it. In the poem the writer, David Barber, talks about how meeting expectations becomes a routine and how hard and large a task it is to live up to those expectations. I found it very easy to relate to that. Achieving the marks that I do means putting a large amount of work into my projects and studying; it means that I have to put a high level of responsibility on myself to put this work in. Since I have been doing this for such a long time it has become a routine for me like the poem talks about. I will continue to put in the effort and accept the responsibility I must to achieve the marks that I do especially since diplomas are right around the corner.

                These two entries show us a lot about how individuals accept responsibility for themselves and others. It can’t tell us everything since it is only the experiences of one person and each individual will do things a little differently than the next person, however, coupled with the texts we can conclude that at least some if not many will accept responsibility in the ways explained in the journal entries.

The first entry shows us why individuals accept responsibility. The situation described tells us that the individual accepted responsibility because she cared about the well being of the kitten, whose life was dependent on her taking responsibility for it. The text that she talked about also revealed that the individual accepted responsibility for someone who she deeply cared about. There are many other situations in which an individual accepts responsibility for someone that they care about, and although they are not discussed in this paper, I feel comfortable concluding that individuals accept responsibility for others because they care about that particular individual.

The second entry told us how individuals accept responsibility. The individual was faced with meeting expectations and accepting the responsibility so that she could meet those expectations. She explained to us how she put tremendous effort into working hard and meeting those expectations by accepting her responsibility. The text that was mentioned also explained how hard it is to meet expectations and the responsibility you must accept to meet them. It told us that hard work must be put in to accomplish such a task. Since these two examples tell us the same thing, that hard work and accepting the responsibility to do that work gives us these accomplishments I am confident in saying that individuals who accept responsibility work hard to do so.