Life Lessons: Rights, Responsibilities, and Repercussions. Our life experiences have taught us that although the world is abuzz on rights (being an umbrella on points such as equality, fairness, justice, among others), rights aren’t nearly as important as responsibilities. By definition, “rights”, in our context here means “that which is morally correct”. Responsibility, on the other hand is defined as “being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something or someone”.

Morally, rights should be respected—innately or as commanded by law, tradition, religion, or anything else holding a positive influence on people’s actions. In this world we live in, rights have always come at a cost. Some examples include the right to vote, the right to study, in some cases, even the right to be born, and people from all over the world throughout history have fought for various rights time and time again.

If, in our society, everyone agreed to uphold a standard of responsibility, the rights of others would be protected by those being responsible. Looking at it closely, this is already how society is today—this is, after all, how humans have become civilized; knowing boundaries and respecting others’ rights. However, we have inadvertently built society of people who think “it’s all about me” rather than “it’s about how I treat others.” With the prevalence of social media and other ways to freely express oneself, we can observe how the victim of a bully is now encouraged to whine and complain about being bullied, which often results in more bullying. In a responsible world, the actions of the bully would trigger repercussions from those around and, without the need of the victim to complain, action would be taken to assist the bully to understand that they need to be responsible for the consequences of their unjust behavior. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

If we ever hope to achieve a fair and equitable society, we need a serious adjustment of how we view ourselves and others, and adopt the mentality that we are responsible for not just ourselves but people around us and should we disrespect rights, there will be repercussions. This applies to so many different situations and is experienced globally: in school, at work, amongst races and ethnicities, between governments, and even in the walls of our own homes.

Rights being trampled is always the result of someone not behaving in a responsible manner. The thought and/or knowledge that there are no consequences can lead to a chain of irresponsible decision making that does not only affect the doer but also those around them. Sadly, because certain repercussions to violating rights aren’t lasting and impactful, negative behaviors continue, and the vicious cycle of irresponsible and hurtful behavior quashing the rights of an individual or a group goes on. Much can be said about an irresponsible character’s character, but if more people in the world take that step to be responsible not just for themselves but for others, we could get one step closer to a kinder and more equal society.

We learn some lessons the hard way, but it doesn’t always have to be like that. With awareness and an open mind, positive and lasting changes can be experienced by everyone.

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