GMC News
Word of the Week: Responsibility
Georgia Military College Prep School
Word of the Week: Responsibility
Week of February 28 – March 5, 2016
Definition: To carry out a duty or task carefully and thoroughly, able to count on, depend on or trust.
Quotable Quotes:
“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” – George Bernard Shaw
“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” – Les Brown
Let’s Get to the Point:
What are your responsibilities? Are they only work related? Or are you only responsible for yourself or only for your family? I would be willing to bet that every one of us is responsible for a large number of things in our lives. Not just work or family or personal, but all aspects of our lives. We must realize that when we do take responsibility for our own actions that we affect all those around us to. When we are responsible, we help all of those around us; it’s when we are not that the situation can go awry.
Putting Words into Action:
Being active in Scouting has taught me responsibility. “Leave No Trace” is one of the many mottos that scouts live by. When we go camping, we try not disturb too much of the natural area. When we wrap up a campout, the entire troop forms a police line and we look for any trash left behind. Not only are we responsible to ourselves, but also those coming behind us and if we find a mess when we arrive, we definitely try to leave the area in better shape than we found it.
Think About It:
Do you throw litter out of your car window? Do you carry on a useless conversation on your cell phone when standing in line at a store? Do you not order right away at a fast food restaurant when you get to the cash register even though you have been in line long enough to choose your food? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you are not being socially responsible. Being responsible in a social setting is something that has lost some of its importance recently. Maybe we are too busy paying attention to our phones and not to those who matter most.
Reflection
Les Brown said “If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” In reality everyone wants to be able to strive to accomplish a dream that they have dreamt since they were kids. As each person goes through life and makes big decisions such as college or your first stable job, they have to put forth effort and understand that the road to success does not have a fast lane. Responsibility is a characteristic that has no limits.
When I was a child, my grandmother fell down the stairs at my house. Though I was only nine years old, I realized as my parents rushed out of the house without me that they had left emergency medical records that showed the doctors all of the medical history and information that my grandmother had. That night around midnight all by myself, I rushed over to my neighbor’s house and told them. Soon after arriving at the hospital I gave them to my mom and she burst into a wide range of emotions, the main one being thankful that I took the responsibility of giving her the forms and documents.
In all situations, responsibility is the most mature thing to hold on to. It also represents you as a person. Responsibility separates those who are willing to hold a certain standard from those who do not represent quality and self-sufficiency. At that very moment when I delivered the material to my mother, I recognized the importance of the situation by being responsible. It may have not been the most important thing event in my childhood, but the feeling of just being nine years old and have my mom tell me that it was a very responsible thing to do was a moment to keep forever.
In life there are always going to be opportunities to show that a person is responsible. On a day to day basis many people allow themselves to become overwhelmed and stressed due to the big responsibilities that they have to handle but through hard work and the constant dedication it is possible for anyone to be known as a person of responsibility.
C/SFC Tyler Oates is a responsible student at Georgia Military College Prep School
