We expect our rights but refuse our responsibilities – in life and business

In the Declaration of Independence, is states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

We live in a society that increasingly demands its rights.

But less frequently are people willing to take up their responsibilities, unless they have responsibility taught to them at home, in school or in their religious upbringing.

Responsibility comes from the Latin word “offer in return.” We are the responses to creation. Our lives are a gift. Simply by existing, we are responsible.

Before rights come our responsibility. Before taking comes giving. Showing up each day, each moment of time, from gratitude, from responsibility to life, to our community, our citizenship, our family, our Earth, this is the practice of being a respectful human.

This applies equally to the individual as it does to the enterprise. Yet today, most businesses assume their rights and ignore their responsibilities.

Photo credit: Russ Allison Loar via Compfight