Anyone who watches those nature programs on television might conclude that responsibility is an instinctive quality. Animals of all kinds can be seen bringing food to their young and protecting them against predators at the risk of their own lives. In some species parental "responsibility" extends to showing the young how to hunt and evade attack, in much the same way as human parents conscientiously pass on the lessons of their experience to their children. Responsibility in the natural world appears to follow an immutable cycle, with each generation taking it up as its members reach maturity.
Among the species generically known as man, a sense of responsibility would also seem to come naturally. In the few primitive societies left in the world, children begin participating in the care of their younger brothers and sisters at an early age. They assume one duty after another as they move up the scale of roles in their tribes until they are able to meet the full obligations of membership. They grow into responsibility as unconsciously as they grow in height and weight.
Even in western countries a few generations ago, responsibility looked like a gift of God bestowed on most, if not all, good Christians. Indeed, in the average middle class household, God had a big part to play in it; a person's ultimate responsibility was deemed to be owed to the all-seeing and all-knowing deity.
For true believers, this had the effect of making virtue into a necessity. The attitude of 19th century American author Lydia H. Sigourney was typical of her era. She thought of earthly life as a probation. "Every hour assumes a fearful responsibility when we view it as the culturer of an immortal harvest," she wrote.
The great majority of people then lived in a rural setting; children were brought up doing essential chores and gradually taking over tasks from their fathers and mothers until they reached the stage of doing everything on their own recognizance. Whether on a farm or in a city, boys followed in their fathers' footsteps, working for a living, getting married, heading a family. With no questions asked, girls were groomed for the responsibility of raising children and looking after a home.
The transformation in behaviour since then should cause us to reconsider the idea that responsibility is an inborn trait whose development can be taken for granted. That may be so in nature, but most of us no longer live in anything resembling a natural state.
Since horses and carriages roamed the streets, our attitudes have changed just as radically as our urban landscape. Yet the assumption persists in our schools, businesses and public agencies that responsibility is something that simply comes to normal human beings as they go along in life.
It is rare to find anyone outside of a prison or other rehabilitation institution actually teaching someone else how to act responsibly, as a person might be taught how to drive a truck or read a balance sheet or play tennis. True, the subject is touched on indirectly in such courses as social studies, religion, philosophy, and management: otherwise, educators and trainers appear to believe that it is learned by example alone.
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