Learning the importance of responsibility

The paper “ The Experience That Taught Me the Importance of Responsibility ” is an exciting example of an essay on social science. The term responsibility is very common that everyone seems to know it. People would naturally say that they are responsible because they are willing to assume accountability for the act being committed. And I admit, I also believed and thought that I was a responsible person. Responsibility entails a duty or an obligation to perform or comply with what is required from a person. I wish to use a particularly interesting experience that enabled me to recognize a different and more in-depth perspective of responsibility.

Background: The event took place on a Saturday, August 27, 2011, right before Hurricane Irene struck New York. Hurricane Irene is one of the biggest storms in the history of New York history. All mass transit systems were closed at noon of that Saturday. As a result, I was very nervous since MTA had never totally shut down before.

It was also on this day that I had to go Mount Sinai to change the medium for my cell culture. I have been working diligently on my laboratory project for the past 2 years and I could not afford to mess up these last few steps because the school will start in 2 weeks.

My dad drove me to the lab in the morning; the sky was already hazy and dark. On the road, there were very few cars that my dad thought that it would be safe enough for me to drive. He was not so scared that I would bump into another car along the highway because the roads were almost empty. The intersection between I-87 and I-95, which guarantees a 25-minute wait every day from dawn to dusk, was eerily vacant.

At last, we arrived at our destination. I proceeded to the building and suddenly realized that I left my laboratory key at home. Anyone can imagine how a person would react to having traveled a distance to carry out a duty only to realize that it cannot be done because of an unexpected occurrence. Since it was hurricane Saturday, there was no one in the whole floor.

At this point, there was no way to go home and return back with the key. With such intensity of a storm and kind of weather, I had no wish to be caught outside. I felt very frustrated because I knew that if I would not perform the necessary steps that day, I would have to repeat every step again.

After a few minutes, I realized that I could request the security personnel to open the door for me. Since the main door for my lab building was closed on weekends, I had to call the guard from across the street.

A security officer named Luke accompanied me to the building by walking through an underground walkway (which took about 10 minutes). We had a nice chat about the upcoming hurricane and I was very surprised to hear that he still had to work for 12 hours. I thought then that under such a situation, it never crossed my mind that some people would still be working, for the protection of other people or properties, despite the foreboding hurricane.

This meeting with Luke was a sort of a wakeup call because I came to truly appreciate the common people who work every day, taking aside the risks and danger ahead to perform their duties with dedication.

Performing a task during peaceful times and as a routine activity cannot be compared with performing an obligation when there is a danger to life or limbs. Dedication to one’s work can truly be tested when a person is confronted with a dangerous situation. When one knows that there is a hazard ahead, but still proceeds since the task to be accomplished is very important, then that is the true test of being responsible. The risk to life, injury or irreversible damage is not ignored though, but the resolve to perform the duty is greater than the recognized dangers that may just be waiting around the corner.

After that experience, when everything returned to normal, I realized that I must view responsibility on a broader scale; and not just for personal interests but also for other people and society in general. Accomplishing something that has benefited other people offers greater satisfaction. I made a resolve that whenever I have to do something again, I will take into consideration the effect, impact or benefit to other people.