What is Often not Considered When it Comes to Responsibility

"We are responsible not only for what we do but also for what we could have prevented.”

Peter Singer

“What we could have prevented” — think on that assertion for a long while.

While humanity does often consider this a responsibility, it is not a consistent commitment of practice. What prevents it from being a personal, organizational, societal and government belief and action is worth a brief examination and conversation.

“Most systems of morality use short, simple, moral rules because they are easier to teach and also easier to tell children to obey them. So they are in the ‘You should not...’ form,” says Peter Singer, an Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. “Teaching children that they are also responsible not only for what they do but also for what they do not do is more difficult.”

Responsibility is a strong word, one that we might struggle to accept and carry out well on a regular basis especially when our emotions lead to rationalization. It’s often a dance that is awkward. Holding ourselves accountable is just not always a desirable, easy part of life.

Humanity can and does turn, look and walk away for a variety of reasons.

“What matters is not what the word means, most of us understand that well enough but what we consider ourselves responsible for. That's an ethical question,” Singer says. “If we are consequentialists, that is, if we judge what we do or omit to do in terms of its consequences, then it is easy to see that we are responsible not only for what we do but also for failing to avert harms that we are aware of and which we have the power to avert.”

A commitment to practicing greater responsibility for prevention can be assisted by doing regular introspection and acting on what is possible and needed.

“We should ask ourselves: ‘how can I do the most good?’ Then go online to organizations like GiveWell, The Life You Can Save, 80,000 hours and many other Effective Altruism organizations that are thinking, researching and answering this question,” Singer says.

It was Edward Everett Hale, an American author, historian and minister who communicated:

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

Michael Toebe serves individuals and organizations with successfully navigating reputation crisis. He has written for Chief Executive, Corporate Board Member, Corporate Compliance Insights, New York Law Journal and Physicians Practice.

This article first appeared in Red Diamonds Features (on the Medium platform) on August 25, 2020.