RESPONSIBILITY

In this day and age there is often much talk about responsibility, usually without anything more behind the torrent of words than the use of noble and exemplary, even if often hackneyed, concepts, the meaning and content of which have long since departed from mankind.

In adolescence, a period in the course of life of increasing physical maturity, the youth is standing before early manhood and womanhood. It is the phase during which the emerging individual personality begins to manifest with full vigour to the outer world, and the young person also becomes liable before the law for his or her deeds. Yet, even in adulthood, we shift, reject and struggle to get away from responsibility, so that it does not get too close. We want to command others, to hold them to account, yet deftly try to avoid any accountability ourselves.

There is no one but ourselves who knows what we want, and who controls our decisions and choices. We always steer our own course – whether consciously or unconsciously – and it would really be so nice if we could follow our inclinations