I've always been extremely responsible to my word. That is, when I say I'll do something, I do it, "come hell or high water"----as my father used to say. However, I never was especially "responsible" as our culture defines it. I never minded calling in sick to work when I didn't feel like going (though I've generally been blessed with good physical health). I never felt obligated to join clubs or to agree with what a person in power said, both of which some consider to be acts of the responsible. I never cared about gaining outward accolades for good work. And I never minded asking "Why?!" about anything, though after reading Wolf's piece on the Anima blog today, I see that the more responsive question is "Why not?"
Wolf reminds us of the importance of "taking responsibility for what [we] care about and are devoted to. . . " and then it is up to us to figure out what these things are, based on our values. One value that trumps all, I think, is to acknowledge that "every living thing is dependent on the rest, that life itself is a series of mutual dependencies" (as eloquently put by Lierre Keith in the book of hers I'm now reading, The Vegetarian Myth). As I've alluded to (many times) before, it's much easier to know what we do NOT want, but figuring out what we DO want, especially in this culture that throws so many distractions in our way, isn't so easy.
I'll end with one other quote from Keith's work that summarizes nicely what I've been thinking, too: "The challenge of adulthood is to remember our ethical dreams and visions in the face of the complexities and frank disappointments of reality" (p. 76), and that "reality" may simply be our learning better by peeling away another false reality.
