The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-08-10
Responsibility
Lesson for August IL, 1862

Irresponsible" and "responsi-
bility" are words perhaps hard
to define, but they will strike
any thinking person as impor-
tant words. We all know in a
general way what they mean.
When we speak of an irresponsi-
BILE person we speak in dis
paraging tones; we don't trust
a person like that. An ilreSpon-
sible person can't be depended
on to do what he is expected to
do. The difference between an
irresponsible person and an alb
sent-minded one is not that one
remembers what he is supposed
to do and the other one doesn't;
they both will forget. But the
absent-minded man is over
whelmed by regret and mortifi-
cation at having forgotten, while
the irresponsible one doesn't
care, even if he forgets a dozen
times.
Single, Plural and Collective
To be responsible means that
someone is expecting you to do
a job or to be a particular kind
of person. 1t means also that
you are expected to give an &C
count of yourself to some one.
You are responsible for the job
and to the boss, or the inspec-
tor whoever gets your report.
No matter how high your perch
is in society. you are always
responsible to some one: the
President of the U.S.A. is re-
sponsible to the people, and we
judge presidents by how well
they carry that responsibility.
But more than individuals can
be responsible. A whole group
of persons can be responsible
in the same way. to the same
person and for the same work
like class in school with a
problem to solve. THIS we car
call plural responsibility. Again
there is collective responsibility
as when Jacob, in the Genesis
story, holds all his sors respOn-
sible for the welfare of Joseph
We can say that a community
is responsible for its own health
that again is collective re-
sponsibility.
Responsible Prophet
The Bible prophet who spoke
most clearly on this subject
was the Prophet Ezekiel. He
was not the first. to be sure
The prophets generally had laid
more emphasis on collective
than on individual responsible
ty; but they did not forget the
individual. When Nathan woke
David's conscience by saying
Thou art the man. that was
individual responsibility When
King Ahab stole Naboth's vine
yard and Elijah paid the king
a fearsome visit, that was indi-
vidual responsibility. But when
the prophets warned. threaten
ed, or comforted, they spoke
most often to the nation as a
whole. That is collective respon-
sibility.
Ezekiel was made to under
stand clearly his own personal
responsibility, and how respon-
Sibllity can be rightly shifted
from one person to another
See esp. chaps. 2 and 81 It
was his concern to warn the
people; whether they paid at
tention or not was not his
worry. 1t was his duty to tell
the truth, theirs to believe it. II
the people refused to listen
after Ezekiel had given them
Gods message that was their
sin. not his. On the other hand
if he failed to warn them of
coming d an er. their blood
would be on the prophets head.
How does this apply today to
school teacher, minister, an
editor, a writer?
Fixing the Blame
The first thing after an air
lines crash is to set up an in
vestigation not only in order to
avoid similar accidents there
after. but to fix the blame for
the one that did happen. 1t is
very seldom that one single per-
son is responsible for great
calamity. But who shall say
who was to blame and how
much? Take a historical event
far back enough so that we
don't get excited over it: the
downfall Of Jerusalem for ex-
ample. Who was, or were, to
blame? Israel went to smash:
Israel was to blame. Easy to
say: but who was "Israel?"
Israel was the people at large;
they might have revolt d
against their government and
sided with the prophet: but they
didn't. psychologically maybe
they couldn't. Who was Israel?
1t was the kings: but kings, like
executives then and since, ask
advice from many counselors.
The yes-men who should some