The best college professor I ever had, and likely one of the most influencial people in my adult life taught me the difference between rights vs. responsibility. Patty Hogan is an advisor for the Health and Fitness Management program and Northern Michigan University. I was a Health Education major, so I had her as an instructor for several classes throughout my college career. Her classes, (not by official course description), were all very similar. She would find dozens and dozens of articles from newspapers or books, and we would read and discuss and study and write. The most profound impact was the ever present question, “Is this a right or a responsiblity?”
It comes down to this (in my opinion), for every right, there is at least one responsibility. People take too much for granted these days, place themselves in a victim role, and expect way too much from situations.
Since I’m babbling, I’ll give an example of what I’m trying to say:
A friend and co-worker (Kathy) has a friend who was seriously hurt in a (sort of) boating accident. Kathy and her husband Don, and their couple friends went for dinner and drinks via the friend’s new boat. They’d all had their share of drinks, and the wife friend had maybe more than her share. Water-levels being what they are here in MI, the boat was a good 3 foot drop from the sea-wall. The wife friend untied the back of the boat, and then JUMPED down — aiming for the swim platform. Well, somehow or another the situation got fucked up, and before anyone knew what was heppening, the wife friend had a cleat lodged in her leg. Serious damage was done. Surgery was required. She’s actually well recovered now, but her husband has convinced her to sue the restaurant. This is exactly my argument — it was their right to drive their boat to the restaurant, it was their right to dock where the sea-wall was so high, it was their right to eat, drink and be merry, and it was their right to be careless. However, it was their responsibility to drive the boat, it was their responsibility to dock the boat, it was their responsibility to decide how much food and drink they would consume, and it was their responsibility to get back into that boat and go home. It should not be the restaurant’s responsibility to tell her not to jump from 3 foot up onto a slippery swim platform after having too much to drink. It is her responsibility, as an adult, to make that decision on her own. The worst part? She’ll probably win.
Everywhere I look, people are playing the role of the victim (I find myself doing it from time to time). There’s the old story of the burgler’s family who sue’d the owner of the house he was about to burgle because he fell through the skylight onto a knife and died. Or even simpler things like this guy who thinks he should get everything for nothing just because he’s the customer. He may be the customer, but it is his right to decide he want’s a cable modem, and it is his responsibility to understand the agreement that is made with that company, set his expectations accoudingly, and then pay what the appropriate charges.
I could go on for days about kids and parents and responsibility, but I’ve rambled enough for one morning, I’ll think save that one for a rainy day.
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