The Things We Carry—Responsibility
Some days, weeks, months, and even years, it seems like we shoulder so many burdens. Some of the weights we carry were placed upon us by others, and some of them we take on ourselves. The heaviest loads tend to be those that hurt and don’t go away easily. When those struggles occur during childhood and adolescence, they can seem to be insurmountable, permanent, invisible, and even normal. Sometimes, they’re in the form of inability to trust and love others, caused by rejection, abandonment, and hurtful relationships. At other times, they take the form of expectations or attitudes from others and from ourselves, both reasonable and unreasonable. The worst may be caused by trauma—those are the burdens that can become the hardest to put down, or even to recognize. The truth is, we all carry things that hurt, but for those with few resources, the hurt can overwhelm the days, weeks, months, and years.
Still, amidst the difficulties, we also bear the weight of responsibility for living productively, for influencing and caring for others, for making a living, for achieving goals, for helping society, etc. These burdens can be difficult to carry too, but they also have the potential to bring great growth and development to our minds and hearts along with benefiting others. A parent, for example, can have great effect on the future of his or her children by bearing the responsibility of parenting well. That same parent will inevitably grow as a person by way of giving that time and love to the children. It’s a win-win situation. Also, by taking the time to develop oneself in body, mind, heart, and soul, one will certainly affect both self and others positively. Working at a job or career may seem like a bother at times, but if pursued well, it can benefit the organization, colleagues, society, and self. Again, win-win.
For our participants, there are so many seen and unseen burdens. We sometimes need to help them to identify them, and sometimes we need to teach them to know what to carry and what to unload. Sometimes we just need to pick up some of the load ourselves to lend support. The participant who catches on to the idea that he or she can, in fact, change his or her situation for the better by laying down or taking up a particular responsibility can make tremendous progress in life. That’s what we’re here for—to help identify the choices and assist in pursuing the positive ones. That often looks like responsibility. The famous quote by Thomas Edison seems to fit all of us at times:
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Responsibility is work, but it’s also opportunity. We hope to send this message to all our kids, that doing the hard work is hard, but it matters, it helps, and it transforms. At ReWritten, we’re able to support our participants because of the generous support of our sponsors. Participants’ lives are being transformed one day at a time.