Responsibility

It is such a big and serious word. It's something we Asians are proud of, that we carry that in WHATEVER we do. Whether in performing our duties as first a child, a student, an employee, an employer, a father/mother as we live. We try to fulfill to our best what we define as a responsibility.

But when do we stop? It's a fair line, I'd say between responsibility and a doormat. Some people take advantage of you, and sometimes even your relative or family can do that to you too. I've always believed that even if someone is taking advantage of me, depending on how severe, and if it's part of fulfilling my responsibility, JUST DO IT. Because I have faith in god and that god is watching over us anyways. And now you'd ask, how to just the severity of it. If it was just for a meal, heck, it's Ok. If we're talking about millions of dollars and I can afford it, WHY NOT.

But if someone is manipulating your sense of responsibility to their full advantage, to help to upkeep their lives...and to obviously make a fool out of you, well then maybe it's time to call it quits. I'm thankful that my parents have never made me feel that I am forced to fulfill my responsibility, the way that they have treated me, it's an honor for me to be able to take them out for dinner, to buy them something/anything just because they've never ever wanted anything from me. I've never felt that I was burdened or that I'm carrying a weight of responsibility. Not many people know what a luxury that is. That's because I know some people who hold their kids ransom just because they think they reserve the rights to do so as the people who brought them to life in this world. A friend of mine said he's never asked to be brought into this world, and so why should his parents think that he has to fulfill his duties as a son. That's really not a filial thing to say. But matters of the heart is complicated. he cannot control how he feels and you can't tell someone you CANNOT feel that way.

For this, I'm thankful. And some parents do not know that the more they push the child to feel responsible for them, the more they shy away from them.