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03/05/2013 11:00 PM

About Personal Responsibility


I'm a permanently disabled senior citizen who grew up in a time when people took responsibility for themselves and their property and the damage caused by their property to others. Years ago, before I became disabled, whenever storms like hurricanes and blizzards sent stuff from our property into the woods behind our home or went onto our neighbors' properties, I fetched the items and brought them home. I never left my stuff for someone else to clean up, as I wasn't raised that way. This is called personal responsibility.

While everyone suffered from Blizzard Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, I had two big limbs that snapped off of a neighbor's large tree and landed on my property-one landing on the roof of my wife's car, and one landing on top of our oil tanks, which could have damaged them, causing us to lose heat.

A good neighbor would have removed the limbs from my wife's car and the oil tanks, to be cut up and taken away later. I had to pay someone to come and do it. A good neighbor would also have come and removed the cut-up limbs and branches that are now lying in our yard, but that hasn't happened either.

While we did experience the kind act of a neighbor who came over with his snowblower so we could get out, and refused payment for doing it, others haven't been so kind. It's apparent to me that many people these days don't care about personal responsibility, or being a good neighbor and doing the right thing. It's been apparent to me for a number of years that much of our society displays a lack of scruples, morals, and value for human life. As an uncaring society, we are in a sad state of affairs.

Michael WayneDeep River