Responsibility
The ability to choose our response is one of the most key liberation for anyone. In my opinion, it is as good as making a statement to say that the choices we make, almost reveal how responsible we are in the various areas such as bring a friend, a child, and even as close to the heart as taking ownership of our lives.
As I carefully reflect, I found myself guilty of being irresponsible in some pertinent seasons of my life. And how I wish I can make it up just to make things better. The truth is, we suffer the consequences of our actions and some consequences are just irreversible. The impact goes beyond mere surrounding colleagues and friends; your character is put into question and raised as a banner for all to see and conclude. How trustworthy a person depends on how responsible he is in the little things.
As an Educator and a volunteer with the Boys, I found myself taking late nights just to complete my various tasks whether or not they are legitimate. It later dawned upon me that for every minute I stay up late, it is compensated with a lackadaisical I-just-woke-up disposition the next early morning. My students/Boys suffer. I take MC. I fail to turn up. How I wish I planned my time wisely.
With each passing day, I'm beginning to understand what is discipline to a greater extend. So often my flesh war against what I want to do. I slack in the area of catching up with friends. I choose to go slumberland than pick my shoes up and meet up wth some good old friends. Oh, did I mention that the moments when I met up with them, those were precious and awesome times? I guess it's a mattter of choice, and responsibility. It takes two hands to clap.
I often share about how I almost did not make it in my studies. To qualify for that, you need to slack for almost the entire secondary school education and get up to speed only in the last 6-7 weeks before your final examinations. Well, it's not the most interesting of journey since the stress level was drowning me then. Yet, the entire process and experience of trust and faith was simply unspeakable. I still ask myself, what if I took on the responsibility to study earlier? What if I spent just one more week to mug instead of dwelling on unconstructive emotions. I guess it wasn't too late that I still chose to take responsibility over my studies and that led me to doing well. Hmmm, seems like I can choose not to mess up my life afterall.
Responsibility is a big word - but it takes discipline to handle it.
Will you choose you activities wisely from now on?