Responsibility

I’ve been meaning to make this post last week, but it seems that procrastination has gotten the best of me. Well first a little story (I guess it’s nap time for you). Last Thursday my supervisor asked me to take the van and some mail over to the Student Center mail office during my 15 minute lunch break. So I’m driving out of central processing’s lot and there’s a truck pulled into the entrance, obstructing my way out. He sees me and starts backing out of the entrance and on to the street. I begin making my way toward the exit when he abruptly stops, still effectively blocking my way out. The van’s stopping power has never been to great and I was close enough to the truck and had a split second decision on whether to hit the fence near the exit or the truck. I picked the former and ended up knocking out one of the windows on the right side (which can be seen taped up on the picture to the right). I stopped, looked at the window and said to myself, “fuck, that’s soooo coming out of my paycheck,” and continued to the Student Center to finish the job. Came back, told my boss, gave the police the report, neglecting to mention that I had left the scene for a couple minutes. Luckily enough the school has insurance for their vehicles, so I’m off the hook.

When I saw the boss, I explained to him what had happened, taking full responsibility for the accident. I didn’t try to make any excuses that would divert blame because I knew had I been going slowing this incident might have been averted. I don’t understand why people can’t do the same in similar circumstances. Is it really that hard for a person to accept blame for something they did? Whatever happened to responsibility?

”It's... a long story. What matters is that I learned something my Uncle Ben taught me. With great power there must also come great responsibility.”

“Umm, hmm... and then what?”

“'With great power comes great responsibility.'”

“Right...”

“So what comes with great responsibility? What's the other half of the equation? Power? Freedom? Guilt?”

“I... I don't... I mean... You enjoy doing this, don't you?”

“Of course not.”

Comic of the Moment: The Amazing Spiderman issue 473 by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr.