 Artist: Joseph Barker | Did anyone see the video of the driverless car that was recently being trialed in the US? It had a driver sitting in it, but the car was on automatic mode and hit and killed a woman who was walking her bike across the road. The video showed the ‘driver’ sitting behind the wheel looking down, probably texting on his phone, and suddenly looking up with horror on his face as he realised what has happened. |
Who is responsible here? I am sure the ‘driver’ will not be held accountable and that the car will be blamed, however is this the ultimate cop out? I personally feel that it is, but I am sure that in this day and age it will not be the consensus of society at large, so what is happening here?
Is it that we are becoming more and more accustomed to thinking that things are really not our responsibility?
Are we now so accustomed to the idea that things are ‘out of our control’ and therefore not anything to do with us?
Are we living our lives in such a way that things are happening to us and to the society in which we live that we no longer feel we can have any influence over how our lives go?
We have had so much done for us as we have grown up that the concept of self-responsibility has been lost.
We no longer make the connection that what happens to us may be the result of the way we live our lives and the values we buy into because society believes that this is ‘the way’ life should be. We seem to have become beguiled by the technological ‘advances’ with which we are now inundated.
Is it not time for us to get back to the basics of our responsibilities? We ARE responsible for our own health, for the foods we eat and for our own wellbeing and there is no way we can really wriggle out of that. There is no point in going to a gym and suffering for hours and then living a life of total disregard, ingesting alcohol and processed foods and anything else we feel like doing.
We are responsible 24/7 for our wellbeing and we have to consider that all the time. We are also responsible for our energetic wellbeing, for how we feel and for what we project out to others all the time.
We are NOT entitled to have our lives run smoothly without any hassles unless we put the effort in to making our lives calm and hassle free.
There is no point in blaming anything or anyone for how our lives are. It never occurred to me to blame my parents for any of my problems. I could see that their lives had been difficult and that they had had their own problems and had at times not known how to cope. Also, I did not feel entitled in any way to rights or privileges provided by the state or by my family. I figured that what I had in life I had to earn and that was the way I lived.
We come to this Earth to learn lessons and unless we learn them we simply have to repeat lives until we do, at least this is my feeling. I quite understand that many people do not agree with my understanding and that is fine, but it does make sense to me. What is the point of only one life? What is gained and what is learned? If someone lives a totally selfish life how do they learn to love? If they don’t even love themselves enough to look after their health how can they love anyone else?
I can remember as a very small child playing in our overgrown garden and leading another little girl, (I must have been three or four at the time) along a lovely smooth little path between weeds, it seemed just big enough for us and we wondered where it led. There was a turning and then . . . a snake curled up and was ready to strike. I remember distinctly turning to the other little girl and urging her to run and then running after her. I see that as an early example of responsibility on my part. I am not saying for one minute that I continued in this regard all my life, but I did not blame others for my misfortunes and could usually see where I had been at fault and thus caused my own troubles.
I have been blessed in my life as I have been married for sixty-three years to a wonderful, loving man and we have over our years together helped each other develop into more loving and thoughtful people. We have worked hard and reaped the rewards for doing so. We have funded our own retirement and hope to live productive lives in the community until we can no longer do so.
Rowena P.
Australia
You might also like to read:
https://www.joyofageing.com/wisdom-of-elders/elder-wisdom-does-it-come-with-a-responsibility
Is it that we are becoming more and more accustomed to thinking that things are really not our responsibility?
Are we now so accustomed to the idea that things are ‘out of our control’ and therefore not anything to do with us?
Are we living our lives in such a way that things are happening to us and to the society in which we live that we no longer feel we can have any influence over how our lives go?
We have had so much done for us as we have grown up that the concept of self-responsibility has been lost.
We no longer make the connection that what happens to us may be the result of the way we live our lives and the values we buy into because society believes that this is ‘the way’ life should be. We seem to have become beguiled by the technological ‘advances’ with which we are now inundated.
Is it not time for us to get back to the basics of our responsibilities? We ARE responsible for our own health, for the foods we eat and for our own wellbeing and there is no way we can really wriggle out of that. There is no point in going to a gym and suffering for hours and then living a life of total disregard, ingesting alcohol and processed foods and anything else we feel like doing.
We are responsible 24/7 for our wellbeing and we have to consider that all the time. We are also responsible for our energetic wellbeing, for how we feel and for what we project out to others all the time.
We are NOT entitled to have our lives run smoothly without any hassles unless we put the effort in to making our lives calm and hassle free.
There is no point in blaming anything or anyone for how our lives are. It never occurred to me to blame my parents for any of my problems. I could see that their lives had been difficult and that they had had their own problems and had at times not known how to cope. Also, I did not feel entitled in any way to rights or privileges provided by the state or by my family. I figured that what I had in life I had to earn and that was the way I lived.
We come to this Earth to learn lessons and unless we learn them we simply have to repeat lives until we do, at least this is my feeling. I quite understand that many people do not agree with my understanding and that is fine, but it does make sense to me. What is the point of only one life? What is gained and what is learned? If someone lives a totally selfish life how do they learn to love? If they don’t even love themselves enough to look after their health how can they love anyone else?
I can remember as a very small child playing in our overgrown garden and leading another little girl, (I must have been three or four at the time) along a lovely smooth little path between weeds, it seemed just big enough for us and we wondered where it led. There was a turning and then . . . a snake curled up and was ready to strike. I remember distinctly turning to the other little girl and urging her to run and then running after her. I see that as an early example of responsibility on my part. I am not saying for one minute that I continued in this regard all my life, but I did not blame others for my misfortunes and could usually see where I had been at fault and thus caused my own troubles.
I have been blessed in my life as I have been married for sixty-three years to a wonderful, loving man and we have over our years together helped each other develop into more loving and thoughtful people. We have worked hard and reaped the rewards for doing so. We have funded our own retirement and hope to live productive lives in the community until we can no longer do so.
Rowena P.
Australia
You might also like to read:
https://www.joyofageing.com/wisdom-of-elders/elder-wisdom-does-it-come-with-a-responsibility