Skill Balancing involves not just balancing abilities to match challenges, but also taking appropriate steps to minimize distractions. Among the distractions you may face on your mission are questions and doubts. You may question what you are doing, why you are serving and so forth. To answer, you may need a firm understanding of rights and responsibilities.
Rights?
Perhaps one of the first thoughts that comes to mind to Americans when talking about rights is the Declaration of Independence. In particular:
"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."
These are sacred truths. The document goes on to define the role of government in securing these rights for citizens. Note that the founding fathers understood the government's role to be that of protecting and preserving those rights, not of granting them. The Creator granted us our rights, not the government. But, a government that doesn't protect those rights is basically not doing its job!
Our rights include pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. With these rights come responsibilities. When one is expected to fulfill responsibilities, one has rights to the resources and privileges necessary to fulfill those responsibilities. I believe the founding fathers understood well that rights and responsibilities are inseparable.
We are each responsible for breathing, eating, drinking and so forth. If we shirk these responsibilities, we die. A right to life means being allowed to perform these basic actions in order to live.
Each day, we are each responsible for performing work necessary for life. If we do nothing, we die. We each have different needs, capabilities and situations. So, what we choose to do may vary from person to person. The only sensible way to manage work is to allow individuals to choose how they will live. That responsibility necessitates a right to liberty.
We can each breathe, eat, drink and work in order to live. But, our Creator did not make us in order to increase misery. We were created so that joy could increase! Without joy, life may have little meaning or purpose. That is, while the mechanics of life may exist with rights to life and liberty, life may have little worth if joy is impossible. We are each responsible for the joy in our lives. Because of this responsibility, we each are endowed by our Creator with the right to the Pursuit of Happiness.
A government is responsible for protecting individual rights. A government that does not protect these rights is in violation of its basic function and is worthy of being discarded. Because the government has this responsibility, it also has rights granted by its citizens in order to perform its function. That is why a government has a right to tax and to require and authorize citizens to act on its behalf such as soldiers, police and other officers.
Responsibilities?
It seems an incredible irony to me that during elections, politicians often seduce citizens by telling them that the government has the responsibility of granting life, liberty and happiness! This is contrary to the Declaration of Independence. A politician may say such things as:
It is the height of arrogance when you think about it. Providing services is not the same as protecting freedom and may, in fact, be the opposite. It's much like taking an animal from the wild and feeding it until it loses the ability to care for itself, making it dependent upon its new master.
Remember, responsibility and rights go together. Politicians often propose surrendering our personal responsibilities to the government! So, another way to put it might be:
These are virtually the same statements, but the latter set of statements will get few politicians elected! People tend to elect politicians that emphasize increased government responsibility and ignore the increased rights surrendered!
Even worse, politicians seem to prefer statements that imply personal rights without personal responsibility. From this point of view, politicians might say:
In order to complete the seduction, politicians would have you believe that the responsibilities for such rights rest with others. But, with respect to government services it is you, the taxpayer, that is always responsible for payment. Imagine what would happen to a politician that also accurately stated:
At this point I am reminded of the words from a speech given by P.J. O'Rourke on May 6, 1993 at a dinner celebrating the Cato Institute's new headquarters in Washington as published in "The Liberty Manifesto":
"If you think health care is expensive now,
wait until you see what it costs when it's free."
In that speech, he was pointing out how the politicians at the time were going to great taxpayer expense to figure out how to make health care cheaper. More than a decade later, it seems quite apparent that the money was not well spent.
As an individual, you need to be very careful about your rights and your responsibilities. When you surrender your responsibilities you also surrender your rights.
Rights for All!
Still, it is compelling to believe that everyone should have any particular right without responsibility. It seems a popular theme from time to time. Whether it is arguing for rights for all with respect to driving a car, sex or drugs, somebody often asks, "What could be the harm?"
The harm is that if rights are freely given without regard for responsibility, bad things happen. Let's assume, for example, that we decide that everyone has a right to own a nuclear warhead. There would be lots of advantages, of course.
I discussed this with my daughter. While it might be fun to have a nuclear warhead, there would be a significant chance of somebody, somewhere setting one off just for fun. Some might set them off just out of curiosity. In fact, it would be a sure bet that without responsibility the right would soon be abused, resulting in unspeakable destruction.
Without responsibility, things could get downright miserable, perhaps destroying any concept of Life, Liberty or the Pursuit of Happiness!
We Demand Our Rights!
Rights are worth fighting for. The problem is that too often, people neglect the responsibilities that come with rights. When was the last time a mob demanded more responsibilities?
When there are great rights, there are great responsibilities. To many Americans, having great rights is simply a normal part of life. They were born with it. They do not know a life without tremendous rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They perhaps seem quick to demand rights but slow to accept responsibilty. So, if Americans have great rights today, where are the great responsibilities?
Accepting Responsibility
Many Americans fail to recognize the great responsibilities taken on by others so that they could have such rights. There are many who took upon themselves personal responsibility for the protection of the rights of others. These include soldiers who laid down their lives fighting oppression and tyranny. These include our founding fathers, many of whom lost their wealth, their power and even their lives in order to honor their responsibilities so that we could enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There are many who voluntarily took on great responsibilities and donated their time, resources and passions to influence others in matters of truth and integrity so that rights might be protected and preserved. There are many who assumed great responsibilities by leaving their family and country to come to this land, who worked very hard and made other sacrifices so that their children could enjoy these rights.
In other words, we live in a time when people tend to take for granted the tremendous rights they enjoy, who insist on more rights and yet do not understand or appreciate the responsibilities that others voluntarily assumed so that they might enjoy those rights. To these people, the idea of a mission might seem strange. This is especially true when a mission involves voluntarily assuming great responsibilities so that others may enjoy great rights. Why voluntarily assume great responsibility in exchange for few rights? Doesn't it make more sense to assume great rights with little responsibility?
Mission and Responsibility
Soldiers, social servants, peace workers, missionaries and others often take on responsibilities voluntarily so that others may have rights.
Soldiers often put boots on treacherous ground to protect family and country from terrorists, tyrants and villains. They protect the rights of their family and friends to life! They must because there are evil people who desire to deny their loved ones the right even to breathe.
Voluntary social servants and peace workers often set foot on ground where people may live in peace but are shackled by poverty, limited by inefficient work practices, trapped in unsanitary living conditions and so forth. Their service can help people develop alternatives and have choices for how they live, promoting liberty.
Missionaries often knock on doors where the people are well fed and free to work as they please. As a missionary, I encountered many people who enjoyed these rights and yet were miserable. My hope was to give those I encountered an opportunity, the right, to choose another way. My hope was that these people I loved in a country new to me could pursue happiness perhaps even after they lost the faith to believe that joy was possible.
Shortly after arriving in Denmark, I went out to knock on doors in Copenhagen with a fellow missionary. It was part of the adjustment to the new surroundings as well as a way to help overcome jet lag. By keeping me on my feet, the hope was that I could stay awake!
One of the doors we knocked on allowed us in. She was a beautiful, young, blond woman dressed in a stretchy black body suit. She lived in the center of one of the most exciting cities on the planet. Hours before, I had been introduced to genuine Danish food which was doubtless also a part of her life. Yet, she seemed to have an almost overwhelming sadness about her.
We presented an introduction to the religion and a few other topics. The conversation was pleasant. I could not understand all of it as I was still learning the language. But, I could tell she was listening. Still, as we left it was apparent that she had not experienced any great change. I don't know what happened to her since then. I don't know if we had much if any impact on her life. I left shortly after that day to serve in my assigned city of Naestved. But, I was very concerned for her, concerned that she somehow find joy. I still feel that way today.
Whether your mission is to promote life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness, it may involve voluntarily taking upon yourself responsibilities in order to preserve and promote rights for others. Understanding of rights and responsibilities is critical to Skill Balancing as you serve on a mission. This will help you avoid distractions and doubts as you serve. As you serve on your mission, your understanding will help you make good decisions and take good actions. And, that will help you enjoy your work!
-- SKS
SUBSCRIBE to the Skill Balancing newsletter!
It's FREE!
Delivered to your emailbox every month!