Responsibility

Responsibility

Nick Park
ACA 122
Starting at a young age, we are preached to about responsibility and consequences;
how they affect our lives in everything that we do. The way we are raised in modern
America, though, is counterproductive to teaching this lesson. Our lives in this white
suburban dream are furnished with anything we could need, and most of what we want.
It is not until we reach the teenage years, that we start to realize the gravity of
responsibility and consequence. We start to question ourselves, our purpose, and why life
must be so harsh.
Childhood is an interesting time in one’s life; our minds are like a sponge,
absorbing everything that we observe. My parents gave me everything I wanted, I was
that blonde-haired spoiled little boy you see on television. Life was good, everything
appeared as it should. What did I know about responsibility? I knew absolutely nothing.
It stayed much this way until my parents divorced, it was then I learned that the chaos
theory holds very much applicable to all forms of life. The world is constantly changing,
shifting; sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. The underlying theme to all
this is that you can depend on nothing but yourself, it is in this that I first swallowed the
concept of responsibility.
Adolescence is a scary time indeed, hair sprouts in places you did not expect, and
one’s emotions begin to scatter in every direction imaginable. High school hits you
directly in the face; “Wait…I have to write papers?!”.   Eventually, you get a job and learn
the importance of being on time and putting in a good effort in order to get paid. I learned
a lot of responsibility during my first job, being that my boss was retired military and
refused to put up with any nonsense. I began paying my own insurance, as well as any
gas I may have used. The next major step in learning how to be responsible for myself
came when I reached the age of 18. It was not long after...