The Market of Responsibility

If you ask people what the hallmarks of American society are, the two most common answers are 'Freedom' and 'Personal Responsibility'.

Together, they seem to state that we are free to take care of ourselves. There is a problem with this. A society is obviously more than individuals. It is a web of connectiveness. Of obligations and responsibilities not only to ourselves, but to those about us.

Yes, obligations and responsibilities.

The most common tool used to meet these is money. So, in a way, we could view a dollar as a tangible mark of responsibility. A share, if you will, of the overall pool of what we owe to one another.

If you do look at it in this fashion, then our economy takes on a new profile. We are not all just trying to get ahead, but are instead competing for responsibility. Every dollar that you earn adds to your share. Make just a little money and you have enough responsibility to see to your own welfare. Make a little more and the welfare of your family is in your hands. Even more and the community becomes your responsibility.

Now, all too often, responsibility and authority become confused. This responsibility is not to command, but to support. To increase to liberty of your fellow human beings, not limit it. Providing freedom from want, freedom from pain and the ability to take on a greater share of the overall responsibility themselves.

So, if we have to live in a society where money is the mark of success, then perhaps we could add a bit more humanity to the mix simply by changing how we view that mark. We could see it as more than a symbol of what we have and more as a symbol of what we owe.

Our country and our world might be better for it.