This month, our character focus is on responsibility which means being held accountable for how our words and actions affect others as well as ourselves.
The following story from the Titanic demonstrates the great lengths people have gone to fulfill their responsibilities.
The year was 1912 and all the talk in the world, especially in Europe was about the Titanic, a luxury ship designed to ferry people back and forth across the Atlantic. However, as you know on its maiden voyage, the unsinkable Titanic struck an iceberg just before midnight on April 14, 1912 and would subsequently sink to the bottom of the Atlantic at 2:20 a.m. on April 15.
There were 2,224 passengers on board with over 900 crew. But, there were only enough lifeboats to carry about 1100 people. The decision-makers for Titanic irresponsibly decided that because the ship was considered unsinkable, they didn’t need as many. They opted for more deck space rather than keeping the safety of all passengers and crew in mind. That decision cost lives as over 1500 people perished that night into the icy Atlantic Ocean.
Of the 900 crew members, 25 of them were engineers responsible for maintaining the inner-workings of the ship including the pumps designed to control any possible flooding.
As the Titanic was sinking, passengers were being loaded onto the lifeboats by the deck crew. During this time, the engineering crew remained at their posts to work the pumps, controlling the flooding as much as possible. Their actions ensured the power stayed on during the evacuation and allowed the wireless radio system to keep sending distress signals. These brave men kept at their work as it was their responsibility. They helped save more than 700 people even though it would cost them their own lives.
This story shows how an irresponsible decision can negatively impact the lives of hundreds of people. The story also demonstrates how following through on your responsibilities can make a major positive impact, especially when you are putting the welfare of others above yourself. The key factor here is that your responsibilities impact others one way or another and not just you.
Take a moment to think about what you are responsible. How would fulfilling those responsibilities or choosing not to fulfill them impact others? As Abraham Lincoln once said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”