Be responsible for yourself. Inherent in the concept of personal responsibility is the idea that each individual is responsible for himself or herself. You are responsible for your health, your finances and your life. You are responsible for understanding and obeying the rules and the law. When events do not work out, the first person you should look toward as responsible is yourself.
Help others less fortunate than yourself. While you should be responsible for your activities, there will always be those who are less fortunate due to circumstances beyond their control. Reach out to them and assist them, whether through monetary donations or personal assistance. At some point in our lives, we will all need assistance from others.
One of the greatest responsibilities we have as citizens is to participate in our government, through voting, service and activity. After all, if we are a government “of the people by the people for the people,” as Lincoln states in his Gettysburg Address, then every person has the responsibility to participate in the government. We cannot assume that others will do it for us, because if all assume that others will serve, no one will serve.
One of the most famous quotes from the United States Declaration of Independence 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.”-- Note that the Declaration of Independence does not guarantee happiness, just the pursuit thereof.
My job as Robert’s parent is not to ensure his happiness, but rather to help him gain the tools that he will need to pursue happiness.