Responsibility

John B. Mulder

When we were growing up, my parents insisted we learned about responsibility. At the end of every day, we always had to put our toys or farm tools back into their original storage places. When we offended someone, we were responsible for making appropriate amends. Our parents were fairly conservative and considered honesty to be a virtue. In spite of our disciplined upbringing, we children all became fairly successful, contributing to society.

We were taught early in life that drinking alcoholic beverages was not good for one’s health nor was smoking going to prolong our lives. Further, sexual promiscuity and abortion were not considered viable options. Every Sunday, our parents took us our country church where these concepts were substantiated

As I get older, I am increasingly flummoxed by information currently disseminated. Television, radio, newspaper, or magazine messages continue to bombard us with confusing revelations. We are told we should drink alcoholic beverages responsibly. Also, we are informed that tobacco companies are being responsible by advising us about the dangers of smoking but we’re never told to avoid this damaging habit. Further, we are told to practice responsible premarital sexual activities and, should problems arise, abortion services are readily available. Please tell me, how did all these idiotic destructive practices become responsible? Could my parents have been totally wrong?

I finally reached the following plausible conclusions all by myself. Taking no personal responsibility for our actions allows us to live freely, without enacting reasonable restraints on ourselves. Thereby, we exhibit minimal concern for our own health and wellbeing as well demonstrate little care for others.  Further, the more folks drink debilitating beverages, smoke cancer-causing and health destructive products, and participate in illicit sexual relationships, the more profit is generated by those advocating such behaviors. These parasitic folks apparently have minimal interest in our lives and wellbeing but, rather, are merely wanting to make another fast buck.

Isn’t it time we terminate our support for those promoting life threatening practices and tell the perpetrators we no longer wish to see nor hear their false propaganda? If you’ve had enough, select only radio and television programs that provide honest information or subscribe to different newspapers and magazines. Be assertive folks, we don’t need to continue being stupid regarding stupid!

And, finally, I have become fully convinced that my parents really were right!

“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Winston Churchill  

Where Has Gratitude Gone?

John B. Mulder

It may be merely a function of my old age, but it appears to me that gratitude has largely left our culture. When I was a pup, my mom always insisted, or forcefully demanded, that we children express thanks whenever anyone did anything nice or kind for us. Since there were ten kids, it appeared that others were being helpful continually. Thus, we wrote and hand-delivered, or mailed, a continuous litany of appreciation notes that had been hurriedly composed on a little ruled tablet, ever-present on a small old worn table located in the corner of our dining area. An additional benefit from this flurry of activity was the refinement of our writing skills, creating minimal well-written verbiage that adequately conveyed required messages. Since notes were never allowed out of our house without my mother’s perusal, we soon learned to become relatively literate. This relieved us from rewriting the same message repeatedly.

After leaving home, acts of kindness seemed to be diminished somewhat; however, I never neglected sending a message of appreciation to those who had been thoughtful on my behalf.

Admittedly, I feel slightly nonplussed over current gratitude behaviors. Sadly, I have received little response from my recent benevolent actions. Having published three books, I purchased and gave away over 300 copies. Thus far, only 28 folk have bothered to express any form of appreciation. If I know anything about mathematics, that figures to be only a 9% gratitude factor. Of course, recipients of my books may have considered them to be so poor that complimentary copies didn’t merit thanks. However, you are surely aware that an author’s opinion always varies from that conclusion.

Other’s commendable deeds do not necessarily involve monetary expenditures. They may include simple courtesies such as holding a door open for someone, allowing another driver to cut in front of you when needful, or returning a smile to a handicapped, older, or hurting person. Let’s all covet together to be more grateful for any kindnesses provided for us.

Trust me, you really don’t want to disappoint my mom!