Exploring Personal Responsibility Through a Fictional Lens

Much of my writing has to do with personal choice. I believe that we are responsible for our own lives and admit I have little patience for those who live otherwise. Not because I think they are less, I don’t, but because there is so much wasted potential in their lives by letting external forces buffet them about.

In Entangled Oaths, the anthropomorphic animal hybrids of the Wharf of Cago have attempted to exercise their personal choice in a society that is trying to make their choices for them. Some have chosen to do it through civil disobedience. Others have chosen violence. Still others have chosen to quietly keep their heads down and plow through the forces pressing upon them to reach their goals.

Elke, in particular, the protagonist of Entangled Oaths, has chosen a combination of all three. As a therapist, she goes to work every day, trying to help the hybrid population with their mental health issues. It is one of the helping professions, down and dirty with the community she cares about. As a civil rights activist, she engages in the City Council to exact change in the laws and mores toward her population. It makes her seen by the powers that be, that she will not be ignored, despite her mixed heritage of red wolf and caribou. With the Black and Gold, she engages in less than legal activities to help the people of the Wharf when advocacy fails.

I am a big fan of personal responsibility in one’s life. This means that I have to take responsibility for the mistakes that I’ve made as well as the successes I can claim. It also means that I have to be conscious of the decisions I make. I examine what I do and why I do it, so that I can do it better. This can lead to some self-work on hubris and shame, but I feel that if I don’t self-examine then I am unable to live my best life. How can I live my best life possible if I am not aware of the decisions I make?

Do I always do it with grace? No, not at all. I have failed to take responsibility plenty of times, both knowingly and unknowingly. Hopefully, as I’ve grown as a person, I don’t do it knowingly as much anymore.

How do you take personal responsibility for your life? Do you even believe that one should? Does it matter?