什么是责任，如何明确责任

摄影：Leio McLaren

对我来说，健康的责任感主要是爱的表达。我们希望把事情做好，并带来长期的好结果，因为我们关心相关的人（或动物或地球）。但是，就像人类生活和情感中的其他事物一样，责任也是一种复杂的东西，它可以被无休止地操纵，也可能受到各种不健康的影响。

责任感在某种程度上也是寻求自身与他人之间的平衡，这与我对正直的理解有些类似。然而，责任还包括一个额外的方面，那就是平衡取决于关系的类型，以及在关系中谁拥有更大的权力。无论你是某人的朋友、父母、学生、伴侣还是雇主，责任都是不一样的。每种角色，尤其是每种权力地位，都承载着不同的责任。

If the purpose of responsibility is something like “to do things with the best possible long-term outcome for everyone involved”, then it is clear that your responsibility depends primarily on how much control and influence you have in a specific situation, and then on how much knowledge and experience you have. But in real life, there seem to be relatively few people who are aware of this.

直到几代人之前，世界上的大多数人都只关注物质生存和身体责任，而对情感健康和交流的责任则不太重视。如果说我们甚至已经达到了将这些方面视为生活重中之重的程度，那么我们仍然处在一个学习和困惑的过程中。但是，微妙的行为也会产生很大的影响，尤其是当涉及到幼儿和他们从父母那里学到的东西时。

According to Richard Dawkins (the book “The Selfish Gene”), research shows that about 60% of the population is more inclined to cooperate with others, while about 40% of the population is prone to exploiting others. Of course, these 40% will try to avoid responsibility, which nowadays they most often do through manipulation (including shifting their responsibility to others). But even among those 60% who cooperate (more or less), distorted ideas about responsibility are often present, which is usually the result of chaotic or toxic upbringing, unhealthy family and social models, inexperience, and lack of awareness. Thus, even cooperative people, often out of ignorance, habit, fear or following bad models, can shift their responsibility onto others, unaware of the consequences for their own integrity as well as for other people.

So let’s try to clarify what responsibility actually means.

什么是责任，什么不是责任

To start with, responsibility does not mean guilt or the threat of punishment. Or at least it shouldn’t, but for many children, a sense of responsibility is imposed through guilt and punishment, not through insights about love and inspirational results. Some people raised in this way may avoid responsibility trying to avoid both guilt and punishment – while others may use self-criticism to motivate themselves to be responsible, rather than love and a positive vision. I’d say most people live in one of those two ways.

Similarly, responsibility does not have to mean sacrificing yourself – unless you have chosen to sacrifice your needs consciously, well informed, and without pressure. Let us remember that responsibility includes balance and that neglecting yourself has long-term negative consequences not only for you, but also for others around you (including the possibility that they do not learn proper balance in relationships, and to stand on their own two feet). Responsibility means consciously and thoughtfully fulfilling the role you have chosen to take on.

While we are at this, we must recognize the fact that parenting, especially when it comes to very young children, requires sacrifice by parents: the sacrifice of much of their time, energy, nerves, sleep … This means that people who are considering becoming parents have the responsibility not to make that decision uninformed and at random, but to inform themselves well about what it really means and then consider whether they are prepared for such a responsibility. (Check out the article “您真的准备好要孩子了吗？“)

Thus we come to the thought that responsibility requires knowledge, but, once you accept a certain responsibility, it is not ethical to avoid it under the pretext that you have not been well informed, especially when it comes to parenting. If you make a decision, theoretically that decision should be well thought out and informed. In reality, however, it is very difficult to achieve this ideal, not only because we often lack experience, but because the early family and the whole society often teach us, and even manipulate us, in the direction of ignorance and recklessness (such as in the context of lack of sexual education, and getting married. Speaking about getting married, you might like “Prepare For Marriage Or Living Together”).

If we have made a decision with good intentions, but without enough experience and knowledge, or even under the influence of manipulation, it does not necessarily mean that we must stick to it for the rest of our lives if it would mean disproportionate suffering. However, we do need to think carefully about how to achieve the best possible balance for all people involved, with special emphasis on the needs of those in a more vulnerable and needy position – therefore, primarily children.

在关系中的角色责任

The parent-child relationship is the least equal in terms of knowledge, experience, power and influence. It is clear that the role of a parent carries far more responsibility than any other, especially when we take into account the sensitivity of a child’s developing brain and psyche, and how parental behavior can cause long-term consequences for the child. Thus, it is the primary responsibility of a parent to consider the child’s needs, especially while the child is very young.

This does not mean pampering the child – we could say that meeting the child’s needs includes the need for discipline and socialization. This means that, the younger the child, the more the parent should be careful, patient, informed, should invest time, effort and energy, communicate well, and pay attention to the long-term rather than short-term consequences of their behavior. The older and the more able the children are, the more experience, cognitive capacity and ability thy have, the more responsibility can be transferred to them, but very thoughtfully and with a sense of proportion. (See also: 儿童需要挑战)

Second in the context of power inequality is the teacher-student relationship, especially when the student is a child. The responsibility of students is to strive in accordance with their abilities, and the responsibility of a teacher is to realistically assess students’ abilities, to be patient with students’ mistakes, and to re-examine and change their own approach and methods if necessary. It is not possible to discuss all aspects of this type of relationship in a few paragraphs, but, on the whole, it is the teacher who is expected to be more thoughtful and to have more knowledge, more patience, and more self-control.

Next come, depending on the circumstances, the relations employer – employee, therapist – client, religious leader in relation to followers, and the like. In some of these situations the relations of power and knowledge are more balanced than in others. But in any case, a person in a position of greater power and knowledge also bears greater responsibility for their actions and communication.

Moving on to balanced relationships, or at least those that should be balanced, we come to love relationships, friendships, and (perhaps) business partnerships. Here both power and responsibility is, ideally, equal. The most important thing is to recognize responsibility in communication and in the division of labor. In communication, each of the partners should be ready to listen carefully to the partner’s perspective, accept it and express their views honestly and respectfully.

When I talk about accepting a partner’s perspective, I’m not saying we should agree with our partner’s beliefs or demands and follow them. I am talking about recognizing the fact that our partner has a right to their own ideas, needs and desires, and being responsible means discussing them without belittling, manipulating and trying to control our partner.

Unfortunately, many people still perceive others’ different opinions or different needs as a danger or as criticism, and react accordingly. A healthy and responsible reaction is to calmly discuss such differences and make a decision about whether you can come to a compromise or not, and if not, whether you want to fulfill some of your needs in other ways, or even to end the relationship and look for a more compatible one. Control, manipulation, shouting, insults, ignoring or withdrawal should have no place here. It is also the responsibility of each partner to ensure that he or she respects any agreements that may be reached. If, with time, you recognize you can’t follow through with an agreement, you need to renegotiate it in a respectful way.

一段关系中的平衡当然包括日常责任的均衡分配。你们可以根据自己的亲和力、技能、承诺所需的时间等来分担责任。重要的是，双方都要努力做到相互满意，达成一致。如果你们共享同一个生活或工作空间，所有这些就更加重要了。

If there is some kind of imbalance in such relationships, e.g. one person has more financial, intellectual or social power, then it’s the responsibility of that person not to use such an advantage at the expense of their partner, and sometimes to help the partner, too. I know an example of a woman who is unemployed due to a chronic illness and disability, but since her husband is wealthy and earns all their money, she feels obligated to do all household chores regularly and thoroughly despite suffering pains. What is the balance in this case? Are money and security worth being in pain every day? Perhaps in a business relationship, but marriage is not supposed to be a business, right? If the husband is wealthy enough to pay for help, then I’d say it would be responsible to ease her burden in that way. In case they don’t have that much money, then at least it would be responsible not to expect her to do all the chores, or so often. A disabled person can not be expected to have the same resources as a healthy one. I don’t know whether the husband of this woman is actually aware of how much she struggles; it’s also her responsibility to make it clear to him so that they could come to a mutual solution which would enable long term quality of their life and relationship.

责任与错误

Since human beings are not computers, we are subject to all sorts of – often unconscious or biological – influences. No one is born learned, so we cannot expect ourselves – or others – to always be perfectly responsible and objective in every situation. Even when we try, we will still inevitably make mistakes, that’s just life.

The consequences of these mistakes should not be disproportionate. Mistakes should be an incentive to learn, not an excuse to impose unnecessary suffering on someone. A mistake needs to be recognized, corrected, and learned from  so we can move on wiser. If you have made a significant mistake that can affect other people besides you, it is quite possible that there is more than one way to correct and compensate for those consequences. Don’t limit yourself to just the usual and obvious. (More in the article: “如何克服犯错恐惧“)

社会责任

Here we come to a particularly murky topic burdened by instinctive behaviors. On one hand, if we are guided by the idea that more power means more responsibility (which in the Middle Ages was expressed with the idiom “noblesse oblige”), then it is logical that the “higher” stratum of society would have more obligations. On the other hand, certain cultures have created a rather extreme ideology claiming that if the poor are helped, they will get used to it, start exploiting it and become social parasites. As with any ideology, there is a grain of truth in this one, but any good idea when taken to the extreme can have dire consequences.

It is part of our fundamental instincts to compete with others, to fight not only for our own status and security, but also for the status and security of our descendants. In some people this instinct is more pronounced than in others. When this instinct guides us, we can perceive everyone else as competition, and especially those that we do not perceive as our “tribe”. The stronger this instinct, the narrower group of people we perceives as our tribe. Some people include only their family in their tribe, sometimes even just the closest family, while all others are perceived as relatively irrelevant. The stronger one’s instinct for status, power, and resource hoarding, the less they will care for others and will be willing to encroach on and exploit their rights, sometimes under various pretexts; sometimes firmly believing in “might makes right”.

On one hand, the basic function of a human society is to control “predators” and protect the more vulnerable. On the other hand, history shows that people cannot be forced to give up the instincts described above. It would be ideal to find some balance between the two, and some cultures manage to find it through upbringing and education. On the other hand, if we lived in an ideal world, then there would be no such instincts.

我能从中得到什么？

If you are among those 40% of people more prone to personal profit than collaboration, I must first ask myself how you got to this part of the article in the first place, and then I guess you are wondering, “And what do I get for all that work and effort?” From my perspective, you get healthy self-esteem and sense of integrity, as well as long-term respect and trust of the people around you, and thus better relationships and more warmth in life. If that sounds worth the effort – great, you may not be among the 40%. If it doesn’t sound worth the effort, or you want to win the trust of others to use it later for manipulation, I can only hope that people around you will figure it out sooner rather than later.

Since children and adolescents are often naturally egotistic, it’s wise to explain the above advantages and long-term benefits of responsibility to them as well. They may not understand and adopt it right away, but with some repetition, it may remain in their heads for the future.

结论

也许这样的分析能帮助你认识到自己什么时候承担了太多的责任，或者允许他人逃避责任。或者，如果你逃避了责任，但还是把这篇文章读完了，那么你可以通过哪些方式来改变自己的行为，从而确保他人也对你做出更好的回应。

For some readers, these could be important insights and an incentive for change, as our attitude toward responsibility, like many other habits, is often unconscious and deeply ingrained since childhood. The change is likely to be for the better, but you may also have to deal with the risks and fears you have neglected so far. Don’t give up – while it’s true that imagination is generally more beautiful than reality, it’s also true that fear, especially fear of the unknown, is usually much worse than reality.

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