By Pastor Sunday Adelaja
Have you ever met anybody from your country complaining of why the nation is not working? Hey, could that person be you?
I personally had fallen victim to this line of reasoning for a considerable amount of time in my life. As years go by though, I discovered that as in many other things, I had simply fallen victim of my environment. I saw people around me blame the nation and everything else that is wrong in the country, on one person or the other and I simply joined them. I heard them talk about it, I witnessed them playing the blame game, and I joined them, on and on it went.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1cor 13:11
However thank God for understanding, thank God for insight, thank God for education. After getting myself relatively educated in the area of National Transformation, I have come to discover that it makes better sense to look at what I could do to fix the problem of the society, rather than blaming others for what is wrong in the country.
As a matter of fact I never seriously thought about the word responsibility until I was doing my masters in the university. I was fortunate to listen to a man address the issue of men’s responsibility. The word seems so common and popular that I never thought it needed much attention, but the more I studied it the more I discovered, hey! Wait a minute, I never really knew anything about the true meaning of the word. At least my life style did not show any form of responsibility for the nation where I was born or the nation where I lived.
Today, I can joyfully say that one of the best undertakings I have ever made was to study the subject of responsibility. As obvious as my assertion in this article is, so many people still don’t think very seriously about the fact that Personal Responsibility is one of the most essential credentials in National Transformation.
The now famous and widely used quotation of John F. Kennedy “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” is probably the most circulated quotation on the subject of Personal Responsibility of a citizen towards his nation. If a nation and any nation for that matter, could raise up the standard of Personal Responsibility in their society, you will in no time see a country of virtuous people, developed and civilized.
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” ― Winston S. Churchill
As an African, that is probably one quality that sends the first shock-waves through the spine of an immigrant from a developing country coming to Europe. The level of Personal Responsibility in developed countries is averagely much higher than is seen in developing nations.
“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” – Bob Dylan
Personal Responsibility of each citizen before the nation, is usually well defined in all developed nations. In many other countries, such a statement like was made by John F. Kennedy would have gone by unnoticed, because to most people Personal Responsibility of a citizen towards the nation, does not really mean anything. Which explains why most citizens of such nations play the blame game.
If you are reading this article, it is my believe that you must be interested in the transformation of your nation. If that is the case then you must start with yourself. The most obvious question of a responsible person is what can I do in this situation? The more we can ask such questions, the more we bring about change where we are. Instead of expecting someone from somewhere to spearhead or bring about a change that we desire, it is much more practical to begin to do something personally.
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” ― Sigmund Freud
At this junction, I would like us to look into the definition of the phrase Personal Responsibility:
Personal Responsibility is the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone.
Personal Responsibility is the state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something.
Personal Responsibility is the state of being the person who caused something to happen.
Personal Responsibility is a duty or task that you are required or expected to do.
Personal Responsibility is something that you should do because it is morally right, legally required, etc.
Personal Responsibility is the individual desire to be in charge or in control of an action or situation.
Personal Responsibility is the acknowledgement of the fact that I am personally responsible for what is happening in my life, in my surrounding and in my nation.
Personal Responsibility is an act of being responsible for results and consequences of your decisions, actions and in-actions in a given situation or circumstance.
Personal Responsibility is when an individual volunteers to be in charge of duties, tasks and is ready to see to its fulfillment.
Personal Responsibility is when a person refuses to submit his life into the hands of others, but would prefer to rather be a man and provide for his own needs.
Personal Responsibility is when a person refuses to run away from challenges and difficulties, when he refuses to blame others, when he decides to rise to the occasion.
Personal Responsibility is when a person sees a problem and refuses to be indifferent, but decides to rather look for ways and means of resolving the problem.
A responsible citizen is the one that sees something wrong in the society, something he is not satisfied with or that he cannot agree with and responds not by blaming the government or leaders. But by designing ways and means of bringing a lasting solution to the issues at hand.