WEBVTT NOTE Obligation and Responsibility 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Responsibility and Obligation 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:09.000 Let's consider the concepts and the words responsibility and obligation. 3 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.000 These are two very important ideas that we have to deal with in the world we live in. 4 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Curiously, at the present time, there is some tendency on the part of many people to use these words as synonyms and use them interchangeably. 5 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:32.760 In other words, people don't think precisely about what they are trying to say, and they would talk 6 00:00:32.760 --> 00:00:38.360 in terms of responsibility or obligation as though the word meant the same thing. That is, both words 7 00:00:38.360 --> 00:00:46.520 meant the same thing. Actually, they really do not. In a sense, they convey opposite ideas, 8 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:53.080 and it would be important for us to understand what these two ideas are. Of course, semantically 9 00:00:53.080 --> 00:01:21.520 The word responsibility, you will note, begins with a Latin prefix, re, R-E. And that prefix 10 00:01:21.520 --> 00:01:28.840 means of course, again, or a repetition, or a turning backward. Now, the minute we see 11 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:37.060 this Latin prefix, we know that the word following is somehow placed in a chronological context. 12 00:01:37.060 --> 00:01:43.320 That is to say, we are talking about repeat, repetition, or something that is to happen 13 00:01:43.320 --> 00:01:50.040 again. There is a time context in which the word is used. And this applies here. When 14 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:52.640 And we're talking in terms of responsibility. 15 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:59.840 For what we mean by responsibility falls into a chronological context in this manner. 16 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:06.560 Whatever a person is responsible for is something that has already happened up to the present 17 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:07.840 time. 18 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.600 He is not responsible for what he hasn't yet done. 19 00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:19.640 So responsibility always begins at the instant, at the given moment, now, and then it would 20 00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:27.160 would relate to events and happenings and conditions that precede that particular moment now. 21 00:02:27.160 --> 00:02:31.200 Now that would be one of the prime characteristics of responsibility. 22 00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:37.920 An interesting factor here that we note particularly in the current culture in which we have our 23 00:02:37.920 --> 00:02:47.080 beings, is that the word responsibility is being interpreted today very largely to relate 24 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:50.760 to groups rather than individuals. 25 00:02:50.760 --> 00:02:56.520 We note, for example, that an individual will do something, notably something that he shouldn't 26 00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:57.520 have done. 27 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:03.360 For instance, we'll say a young man goes down and robs a filling station. 28 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:10.800 We will immediately get this kind of conversation, this kind of a claim will be made. 29 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:15.320 It will be said, well, the young man really isn't responsible for doing that. 30 00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:24.220 It's the fault of society, or it's the fault of his family, or it's the fault of his geography, 31 00:03:24.220 --> 00:03:29.620 or it's the fault of his racial background, or it's the fault of his school. 32 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:37.160 It's never his fault, it's the fault of some connective group from which he perhaps comes. 33 00:03:37.160 --> 00:03:40.220 Actually, that would not be true. 34 00:03:40.220 --> 00:03:44.880 It would be the fault of the young man who did it because he was the one who actually 35 00:03:44.880 --> 00:03:52.460 did it and is the responsible party. That is, he was responsible chronologically because 36 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:59.260 he initiated the action to which we have reference. Of course, unfortunately, we often use the 37 00:03:59.260 --> 00:04:04.240 word responsibility in a negative sense. We only tie it in when it relates to something 38 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:09.740 unpleasant, such as an act of robbery or something of this sort. The word has equal 39 00:04:09.740 --> 00:04:13.540 application in constructive and productive things. 40 00:04:13.540 --> 00:04:22.340 For instance, a young man goes out and writes a lovely song, or organizes an orchestra, 41 00:04:22.340 --> 00:04:29.280 or does something else that is constructive and positive, and he's responsible for that. 42 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:31.680 But we usually don't think that either. 43 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:36.000 We like to say, well, that's really caused by some other group. 44 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:43.720 or credit goes to his teacher or his school or it goes to his church training or it goes 45 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:49.560 to his family, we never like to, for some reason, pinpoint the individual who really 46 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:50.560 is responsible. 47 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:58.200 Now this is a very curious thing, but we tend to try to socialize responsibility and attach 48 00:04:58.200 --> 00:05:00.080 it to some group. 49 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:06.560 I think this reached a kind of a culmination in this country a few years ago when we had 50 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:13.000 the tragedy of the assassination of the President, and we were informed on radio and television 51 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:20.240 and in the newspapers that Dallas was responsible, and I had a rather fantastic vision of this 52 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:25.560 great city of Dallas standing up and shooting the President. 53 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:27.520 Dallas had nothing to do with it. 54 00:05:27.520 --> 00:05:33.540 That was simply the site where someone else was responsible for doing it. 55 00:05:33.540 --> 00:05:35.120 Now who was responsible? 56 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:36.340 Well quite frankly I don't know. 57 00:05:36.340 --> 00:05:39.800 All we've had was a government investigation so we probably never will know. 58 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:44.560 But the fact is that whoever did it, did it and they are responsible. 59 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.980 Whether it was one person or a dozen or whatever, I don't know and as I say perhaps we never 60 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:55.080 will know but the responsible parties are those who did it and Dallas is merely the 61 00:05:55.080 --> 00:06:02.060 the site and is not any more responsible for the happening than the desk on which I place 62 00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:07.100 my notes is responsible for my lecture. This is an absurdity. But this is the kind of thing 63 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:13.740 we do. And we carried it on so that later on when we had the other Kennedy assassinated, 64 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:18.660 we were told that California was responsible for the assassination. And that's an even 65 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:25.040 larger collective that is now to be made responsible. And then I think it reached an ultimate culmination 66 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:33.040 in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis when we were told the entire United States had done it. 67 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:40.040 And, of course, these are absurdities. This is to actually destroy the meaning of responsibility, 68 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:51.040 which, if it has any significance at all, relates to the ability of an individual to make a decision and to act on it. 69 00:06:51.040 --> 00:07:09.040 Because he acts on it, and therefore is a decision-maker and initiates the action, he is responsible for that action, whether it is a good, a bad, or an indifferent action, the responsibility goes to the initiator of it. 70 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:17.040 Now, let me put that in just another context briefly, and I think you'll see the real significance of it. 71 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:24.560 The word responsibility is just another way of expressing ownership of something. 72 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:28.240 That's what the word really means. When we say, 73 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:35.120 that man is responsible for having done this, that or the other, what we are really saying is 74 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:42.160 that that man is the owner of the action that has occurred because he initiated it. 75 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:49.640 It's a word denoting ownership. So when we say a man is responsible for having composed 76 00:07:49.640 --> 00:07:57.940 an opera, we mean he is the owner of the action that resulted in the opera. Or if we say that 77 00:07:57.940 --> 00:08:03.500 man robbed a filling station and is responsible for it, then we are saying that man is the 78 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:09.840 owner of the action that resulted in the robbery of the filling station. Because in each case 79 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:17.240 The responsible party owns the action which he initiated, and that is the only thing that 80 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:18.760 makes sense. 81 00:08:18.760 --> 00:08:23.800 And that's really what the word responsibility means and what it's all about. 82 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:29.920 Yet as I pointed out in the peculiar milieu that we operate in, there is a tendency to 83 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:37.320 make it appear that the responsible party is not responsible, and that connected or 84 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.260 or related groups are somehow responsible. 85 00:08:41.260 --> 00:08:44.980 Now let's go to the other word, obligation. 86 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:47.760 Here we have a word with an entirely different prefix. 87 00:08:47.760 --> 00:08:56.980 It also comes from the Latin ob, ob, and it relates to the concept of facing forward or 88 00:08:56.980 --> 00:08:59.220 looking ahead. 89 00:08:59.220 --> 00:09:04.700 And therefore when we are thinking in terms of an obligation, we are not thinking in terms 90 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:10.980 In terms of what has happened in the past, we are thinking in terms of a requirement 91 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:18.620 that is going to have to be met at some point in the future. An obligation is nothing more 92 00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:28.100 than an assumed responsibility. But the responsibility which relates to the past was assumed at the 93 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:32.980 The moment the obligation occurred, look at it this way. 94 00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:35.820 Imagine now as a straight vertical line. 95 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:40.940 To the left of the line will be everything that has happened up to this point. 96 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:43.780 The line represents this point in time. 97 00:09:43.780 --> 00:09:47.300 Responsibilities would all be on the left of that line. 98 00:09:47.300 --> 00:09:50.420 An obligation would be on the right of the line. 99 00:09:50.420 --> 00:09:57.000 But the moment that you assume an obligation, time continues to tick along and the instant 100 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:02.560 The instant that you assume an obligation, you have become responsible for assuming the obligation. 101 00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:07.880 The obligation relates to performance in the future, but the instant that you assumed it, 102 00:10:07.880 --> 00:10:12.720 that instant of assumption has now passed to the rear in time and has moved over to 103 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:14.660 the left side of the line, you see. 104 00:10:14.660 --> 00:10:19.760 So that's probably why we tend to mix these up, because they do come together at a point 105 00:10:19.760 --> 00:10:20.920 of time. 106 00:10:20.920 --> 00:10:26.680 Yet an obligation relates to something we have to do in the future and does not relate 107 00:10:26.680 --> 00:10:33.120 to what we have done excepting in the sense of having assumed it. When you assume an obligation 108 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:39.760 then you've done something. And that's really all you've done. You have assumed an obligation. 109 00:10:39.760 --> 00:10:48.760 Now the interesting thing here is that the words have another wide separation in meaning. 110 00:10:48.760 --> 00:10:58.360 says, when a responsibility occurs in fact, the individual who initiated that action is 111 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:00.880 responsible automatically. 112 00:11:00.880 --> 00:11:02.640 He can't avoid it. 113 00:11:02.640 --> 00:11:09.200 Whether what he did was good, bad, or indifferent, it is automatic that he is the responsible 114 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:15.280 party, he is the owner of the action, and therefore he can't get out of it. 115 00:11:15.280 --> 00:11:17.000 It's just automatic. 116 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:22.680 However he would like to pass the credit on to someone else, or the blame on to someone else, 117 00:11:22.680 --> 00:11:28.520 if he is the party who did it, he is responsible, there is no way he can get out of it. 118 00:11:28.520 --> 00:11:32.560 But when we look at obligation, there is an entirely different context. 119 00:11:32.560 --> 00:11:41.320 When we are talking about obligation, we are talking about a volitionally assumed responsibility. 120 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:50.440 And in point of fact, no obligation ever exists until it has been volitionally assumed. 121 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:55.860 And yet we go around and we get that concept all mixed up today because at the same instant 122 00:11:55.860 --> 00:12:03.380 we are told that the young fellow was not responsible for robbing a filling station, 123 00:12:03.380 --> 00:12:09.420 we are told that he has an automatic obligation to, say, serve in the Army. 124 00:12:09.420 --> 00:12:15.260 Well, he doesn't have any such obligation at all. Not morally, not at all. If he has 125 00:12:15.260 --> 00:12:21.380 such an obligation, it would be because he has voluntarily assumed it. If he hasn't assumed 126 00:12:21.380 --> 00:12:30.380 it, it doesn't exist. All obligations have to be volitionally accepted. If they aren't 127 00:12:30.380 --> 00:12:35.380 accepted, well, then they don't exist. They are created at the instant the individual 128 00:12:35.380 --> 00:12:42.860 says very well, I will assume that obligation. If he doesn't say that, or doesn't go through 129 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:48.700 that process, the obligation isn't there. And yet we have this effort, you see, that's 130 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:56.060 being made today to convince everybody that the individual isn't responsible, and rather 131 00:12:56.060 --> 00:13:03.260 that the group is, but that the individual is obligated to the group. Well again, this 132 00:13:03.260 --> 00:13:05.500 This is an equal absurdity. 133 00:13:05.500 --> 00:13:11.740 The individual has no obligation to the group whatever unless he assumes it. 134 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:19.220 Once he assumes it, of course, then he is responsible because he has assumed the obligation. 135 00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:29.180 Think of the monstrous immoral situation we would be in if it would be possible for me, 136 00:13:29.180 --> 00:13:34.020 For example, to declare what your obligations are. 137 00:13:34.020 --> 00:13:37.060 I could stand up in front of you and say, look, I'm in difficulties. 138 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:41.980 I've spent more money than I should have, and I've run up a lot of bills. 139 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.940 And because you're here, you are now obligated. 140 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:50.380 You have an automatic moral commitment, whether you like it or not, to pay my bills. 141 00:13:50.380 --> 00:13:52.580 Well, now wouldn't that be absurd? 142 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:54.380 Of course it would be nice for me. 143 00:13:54.380 --> 00:13:55.980 I'd love that. 144 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:57.740 But how about you? 145 00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:00.340 How would you like to live in that kind of a world? 146 00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:04.740 Well, in a sense, that's the kind of a world we're making, isn't it? 147 00:14:04.740 --> 00:14:10.300 The kind of a world where our thinking is so distorted and grotesque in this area that 148 00:14:10.300 --> 00:14:14.060 we actually have that happening. 149 00:14:14.060 --> 00:14:23.280 We have men in high places of power and authority making obligations and then passing those 150 00:14:23.280 --> 00:14:53.280 Well, you're not obliged to pull us out unless you care to do it. If you want to volunteer for it, great. No problem. But suppose you don't want to. Well, there is no possible moral obligation there. I might point out that this has even been a concept in law for many years, to wit, that a contract entered into 151 00:14:53.280 --> 00:15:00.080 under duress and without the voluntary acceptance on the part of the contractor is void on its face. 152 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:11.520 It's a meaningless contract and doesn't exist. And yet, we know that, yet we tend to create this kind of a situation in which we assume 153 00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:19.040 that a person automatically owes something to society, or he automatically owes something to the Red Cross, 154 00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:23.680 Office, or he automatically owes something to the military or to some political structure 155 00:15:23.680 --> 00:15:27.280 or something, he has no such automatic obligation, whatever. 156 00:15:27.280 --> 00:15:29.580 The whole concept is impossible. 157 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:37.080 If there is an obligation, in fact, it is something the individual has voluntarily assumed. 158 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:41.160 And if he hasn't voluntarily assumed it, it doesn't exist. 159 00:15:41.160 --> 00:15:46.580 Now those are the real meanings of responsibility and obligation, and I can get into lots of 160 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:51.540 The difficulty is over this because it's hard for many people to accept it. 161 00:15:51.540 --> 00:15:59.220 In fact, I recall an incident that happened some time ago and I was explaining this to 162 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:06.980 a group I had in Colorado and there was a very nice young lady in the group, a social 163 00:16:06.980 --> 00:16:11.800 service worker incidentally, a very fine girl anyway, she could have of course gotten a 164 00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:12.800 and a better job. 165 00:16:12.800 --> 00:16:20.960 Anyway, she was going along pretty well with what I had said until I got into this question 166 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:25.640 of the difference between responsibility and obligation, and then she raised her hand and 167 00:16:25.640 --> 00:16:32.120 she said, just a minute, she said, I don't think I quite agree with you, or maybe I don't 168 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:33.120 understand you. 169 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:37.360 She said, I think you do have automatic obligations. 170 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:38.880 And I said, well, I don't think so. 171 00:16:38.880 --> 00:16:39.920 Why would you think so? 172 00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:45.180 She said, well, let me give an illustration. She said, let's just suppose that door over 173 00:16:45.180 --> 00:16:52.300 there opened right now and a little four-year-old orphan walked in. And he's an orphan and he's 174 00:16:52.300 --> 00:16:55.300 four. She said, we know this because he's wearing a sign. He says, I'm an orphan and 175 00:16:55.300 --> 00:17:02.540 I'm four. She said, now you would have an obligation to adopt him, wouldn't you? I said, no. Oh, 176 00:17:02.540 --> 00:17:07.400 she said, he needs you. I said, well, great, but I don't need him. Oh, she said, that's 177 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:12.720 Atlas. He's only four. He can't look after himself. You've got to look after him. I said, 178 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:18.040 why me? I said, you're here. You look after him. You like him. I don't like him. Oh, she 179 00:17:18.040 --> 00:17:22.600 said, what, that's terrible. He's a little helpless child. I said, well, I'm a big helpless 180 00:17:22.600 --> 00:17:28.360 child. Why do I have to look after him? Well, he needs a father, she said. I said, well, 181 00:17:28.360 --> 00:17:34.320 fine, but I don't need a son. I got, you know, my own. This one is not mine. I have a real 182 00:17:34.320 --> 00:17:39.320 I have no obligation to my own kids, one that I can hardly take care of as it is. 183 00:17:39.320 --> 00:17:45.520 So if I were to try to assume another obligation, which you say I automatically have, then I 184 00:17:45.520 --> 00:17:48.400 couldn't take care of the ones I really have. 185 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.160 And that wouldn't be fair to them. 186 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:54.760 I have an obligation in certain places that I've got to meet, now you're trying to saddle 187 00:17:54.760 --> 00:17:55.760 me with another one. 188 00:17:55.760 --> 00:17:57.640 I said, I don't think you're fair. 189 00:17:57.640 --> 00:17:59.520 If you want him, you take him. 190 00:17:59.520 --> 00:18:00.520 He's up for grabs. 191 00:18:00.520 --> 00:18:01.520 You can have him. 192 00:18:01.520 --> 00:18:02.520 I don't want him. 193 00:18:02.520 --> 00:18:08.180 She was very upset with me, as you can understand, and we debated this a little bit, and I could 194 00:18:08.180 --> 00:18:11.840 see I was not making very many brownie points with her. 195 00:18:11.840 --> 00:18:15.960 She was sort of retreating intellectually. 196 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:20.320 I could watch the expression on her face and deduce this. 197 00:18:20.320 --> 00:18:24.200 And I thought to myself, I've got to come up with a better way of explaining this than 198 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:26.040 I've done up to now. 199 00:18:26.040 --> 00:18:32.040 And it just happened that I thought of something that had occurred to me, had actually happened 200 00:18:32.040 --> 00:18:36.920 And in my experience, only a few weeks before, see, at this particular time, in addition 201 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:42.520 to talking in these areas, I was acting as the editor of the Gazette Telegraph, which 202 00:18:42.520 --> 00:18:45.160 is the daily newspaper in Colorado Springs. 203 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:47.760 And this had happened to me there. 204 00:18:47.760 --> 00:18:54.560 I'd been sitting at my desk one day and a lady came in to see me. 205 00:18:54.560 --> 00:18:58.360 Now the minute I saw this lady, I knew I had a problem. 206 00:18:58.360 --> 00:19:00.040 Have you ever seen a girl like that? 207 00:19:00.040 --> 00:19:02.780 You see them once in a while. 208 00:19:02.780 --> 00:19:07.360 The minute she came in the door, I knew, uh-oh, I'm in trouble. 209 00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:09.040 She was tense. 210 00:19:09.040 --> 00:19:11.800 She was just uptight. 211 00:19:11.800 --> 00:19:14.880 That's the expression today and it certainly fit her. 212 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:20.520 She was just as tense as piano wire, just drawn up real tight. 213 00:19:20.520 --> 00:19:23.560 The tears were standing on her eyelashes. 214 00:19:23.560 --> 00:19:28.320 I expected her in any moment to scream and to get hysterical. 215 00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:29.800 She scared me. 216 00:19:29.800 --> 00:19:35.440 hysterical women disturbed me and she looked as though she was on the verge of hysteria. 217 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:40.040 So I was immediately very solicitous. I got up and I said, Madam, what is it? What can 218 00:19:40.040 --> 00:19:45.720 I do for you? Here's a chair. Won't you be seated? And she sat down and she looked at 219 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:53.160 me and she said, I came in to see you about the murder. I said, murder? What murder? You 220 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:58.200 know, it's a small town. We didn't have many. And she said, well, you certainly must know 221 00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.200 know about it. 222 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:03.560 She said, I read it on the front page of your paper a couple of days ago. 223 00:20:03.560 --> 00:20:05.340 I said, you did? 224 00:20:05.340 --> 00:20:10.640 And I thought to myself, this girl is really over the hill, because we haven't had a murder 225 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.360 in town for months. 226 00:20:12.360 --> 00:20:16.960 I was quite familiar with most of the murders that had happened. 227 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:22.160 Few of them had been solved, but I knew which ones had happened, and we hadn't had one, 228 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:26.540 and I was aware of this, and I thought, you know, this gal really is confused. 229 00:20:26.540 --> 00:20:32.980 So I said, I wonder if you may have been getting an out of town paper and then you thought 230 00:20:32.980 --> 00:20:36.380 perhaps that what you read there had occurred here. 231 00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:37.840 And she said, don't be ridiculous. 232 00:20:37.840 --> 00:20:42.140 She said, I've taken your paper for years and I certainly know what I'm talking about 233 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:45.580 and it was on the front page of your paper a couple of days ago. 234 00:20:45.580 --> 00:20:50.460 Well I didn't want to argue with her in this tense condition that she displayed. 235 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:58.540 So I said, well, let me get the file on the paper and you look it over and show me the 236 00:20:58.540 --> 00:20:59.540 murder you mean. 237 00:20:59.540 --> 00:21:01.860 And I was pretty sure she couldn't. 238 00:21:01.860 --> 00:21:03.060 So I went and got the file. 239 00:21:03.060 --> 00:21:07.820 We keep the daily file in a big clipboard and I brought them out and put them on a desk 240 00:21:07.820 --> 00:21:08.820 in front of her. 241 00:21:08.820 --> 00:21:12.540 I got her a desk and she sat there and I said, now you go through the papers and then you 242 00:21:12.540 --> 00:21:15.360 tell me what murder you mean. 243 00:21:15.360 --> 00:21:21.320 So I went back to my own desk and sort of kept an eye on her and pretty soon she signaled 244 00:21:21.320 --> 00:21:23.960 me and she said, here, I've found it. 245 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:28.620 So I went over to her and she was pointing to a story on the front page of the paper 246 00:21:28.620 --> 00:21:34.320 just a couple of days before relating to a murder that had occurred in Oklahoma City. 247 00:21:34.320 --> 00:21:37.980 We had carried an Associated Press item on it. 248 00:21:37.980 --> 00:21:39.700 It was one of these colorful affairs. 249 00:21:39.700 --> 00:21:43.980 We'd given it about two to three inches and made it front page because it was colorful 250 00:21:43.980 --> 00:21:50.940 Oh, but it was not a local murder. So I said, oh, that murder. I said, I had assumed that 251 00:21:50.940 --> 00:21:55.660 you meant one here in Colorado Springs, but I said, you want to talk to me about that 252 00:21:55.660 --> 00:22:00.340 murder? What do you want to talk to me about? I said, do you happen to know or are you related 253 00:22:00.340 --> 00:22:08.480 to the victim? And she said, no. I said, well, do you know or are you related to the murderer? 254 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:12.980 And she said, certainly not. She was indignant. I said, well, lady, you want to talk to me 255 00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:21.980 She said, I want to talk to you about it, because you and I were partly responsible for it. 256 00:22:21.980 --> 00:22:23.980 I said, now wait just a minute. 257 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:25.980 I said, that's a pretty serious accusation. 258 00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:28.980 I can't speak for you, but as for me, I've got an airtight alibi. 259 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:29.980 I never left town. 260 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:33.980 I've been here all the time, so maybe you had something to do with it, but I didn't. 261 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:35.980 She said, oh, I don't mean it like that. 262 00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:38.980 She said, I mean it this way. 263 00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:46.980 She said, you and I are a part of society, and that murder occurred because of a failure 264 00:22:46.980 --> 00:22:53.540 on the part of society, and therefore to some degree you and I were responsible for that 265 00:22:53.540 --> 00:22:54.540 murder. 266 00:22:54.540 --> 00:22:55.540 I said, you've got to be kidding. 267 00:22:55.540 --> 00:22:57.380 But she wasn't kidding. 268 00:22:57.380 --> 00:22:59.060 She was just uptight. 269 00:22:59.060 --> 00:23:05.080 This thing had gotten her all terribly concerned and emotionally involved. 270 00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:06.720 She was frustrated. 271 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:12.600 She was trying to figure out how she could prevent murders from happening in areas where 272 00:23:12.600 --> 00:23:15.000 she didn't even know who the people were. 273 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:16.840 She was terribly involved. 274 00:23:16.840 --> 00:23:19.360 Well, I tried to argue with her. 275 00:23:19.360 --> 00:23:21.920 I said, look, you've got a clear conscience. 276 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:23.740 You don't have to worry about this. 277 00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:25.120 You had nothing to do with it. 278 00:23:25.120 --> 00:23:28.200 She said, yes, I did and you did. 279 00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:34.080 She said, and this was interesting, she said, you and I were equally responsible, especially 280 00:23:35.080 --> 00:23:41.080 I said, well, that's fascinating. How is it that you and I are equally responsible, especially me? 281 00:23:41.080 --> 00:23:45.080 She said, well, we're equally responsible because we're both members of society, 282 00:23:45.080 --> 00:23:50.080 but especially you because you're an editor and you can influence more people than I can. 283 00:23:50.080 --> 00:23:54.080 So, we're both responsible equally, but you more than I. 284 00:23:54.080 --> 00:24:01.080 So, well, we went back and forth on this, and I could see I wasn't going to get anywhere with her, 285 00:24:01.080 --> 00:24:14.080 I finally used the technique in logic, the abductio ad absurdum, I said, well, I don't agree with you, ma'am, but let me assume that I do. 286 00:24:14.080 --> 00:24:24.080 Let's suppose that you're right. I said, if it's true that you and I are responsible, to some degree, for that murder in Oklahoma City, 287 00:24:24.080 --> 00:24:30.080 then it follows that to some degree you and I are responsible for the murder that happened over in Hong Kong. 288 00:24:30.080 --> 00:24:32.080 She says, was there one there? 289 00:24:32.080 --> 00:24:37.080 I said, well, lady, take a chance. It's a big town. They probably had one. I don't know. 290 00:24:37.080 --> 00:24:42.080 But let's suppose they had a murder over there. Are you and I responsible for it? 291 00:24:42.080 --> 00:24:47.080 Well, you know, she'd never thought about Hong Kong in this connection, and she looked a little puzzled 292 00:24:47.080 --> 00:24:52.080 and started to think about it, so I thought I'd help her a bit, and I said, you know how the people are over there. 293 00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:57.080 I said, they've got an entirely different culture. They have different standards, different mores. 294 00:24:57.080 --> 00:25:01.780 They have a different language. They look different. They even eat their meals differently. 295 00:25:01.780 --> 00:25:06.080 They eat them with sticks. They begin with the dessert and they eat backwards to the soup. 296 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:10.880 We do it the other way. I mean, are we responsible for their murders? 297 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:16.280 Well, for just a moment she stopped being quite so tense. There was just a fleeting smile, 298 00:25:16.280 --> 00:25:21.680 sort of a momentary relaxation. And then the storm clouds came in again and she said, 299 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:25.320 Well, I see what you mean. She said, I don't think we could be responsible for a murder 300 00:25:25.320 --> 00:25:31.520 that far away. I said, good for you. I don't think so either. But I said, fine. If we're 301 00:25:31.520 --> 00:25:36.240 not responsible for the murder in Hong Kong, I said, how about the one up in Bangor, Maine? 302 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:42.240 She said, was there one there too? I said, well, take a chance. You know, it could be. 303 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:47.600 I bet they've had them, and they may have them again. Are you and I responsible? And 304 00:25:47.600 --> 00:25:51.000 I said, while you think about it, think how different these people are up in Maine. You 305 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:55.840 You know, they're a funny lot. They speak with their noses shut and they say down east 306 00:25:55.840 --> 00:26:00.280 and they mean up north and they eat apple pie and steak for breakfast and things like that. 307 00:26:00.280 --> 00:26:07.280 I said, are we responsible for their murders? Well, this time she smiled and the smile stayed there. 308 00:26:07.280 --> 00:26:15.280 She just sort of relaxed and got to looking at me like a human being. And she said, oh, 309 00:26:15.280 --> 00:26:20.000 Oh, well, she said, yes, I think I see what you mean. 310 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:21.920 She said, you know, you're right. 311 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:25.680 She said, we weren't responsible for that murder in Oklahoma City. 312 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:26.680 I said, good for you. 313 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:28.220 I don't think we were either. 314 00:26:28.220 --> 00:26:29.220 She says, you're right. 315 00:26:29.220 --> 00:26:30.360 This is what you're trying to tell me, isn't it? 316 00:26:30.360 --> 00:26:31.800 I said, yes, it is. 317 00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:32.800 She said, you're right. 318 00:26:32.800 --> 00:26:36.920 We're only responsible for the ones that happened in Colorado. 319 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:38.160 That's the best I could do with her. 320 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:39.960 I never got her over that one. 321 00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:47.140 Anyway, this particular story, which I recall, I now told to the group that I had there 322 00:26:47.140 --> 00:26:49.400 in Colorado Springs. 323 00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:55.600 And the particular lady that had been concerned about the orphan began to get the point. 324 00:26:55.600 --> 00:27:01.320 And she didn't like it, but she squirmed around a bit, and she finally said, well, 325 00:27:01.320 --> 00:27:07.860 I still think you've got some kind of an automatic obligation with the youngster. 326 00:27:07.860 --> 00:27:14.340 And I said, no, all I have is an opportunity. But I don't have any obligation. Because if 327 00:27:14.340 --> 00:27:21.460 I had an obligation, then I would be immoral and improper if I didn't fulfill it. Now in 328 00:27:21.460 --> 00:27:27.540 this case I have no connection with the child. It represents an opportunity. I might want 329 00:27:27.540 --> 00:27:32.940 to do something for the child. If I can see my way to do it and want to do it, I'd love 330 00:27:32.940 --> 00:27:36.940 I'd love to do it, but maybe I can't see my way to do it. 331 00:27:36.940 --> 00:27:38.940 Well, she said, I can't quite accept that. 332 00:27:38.940 --> 00:27:41.940 She said, you've got to do something about the child. 333 00:27:41.940 --> 00:27:44.940 I said, okay, let me ask you a question then. 334 00:27:44.940 --> 00:27:47.940 At what point did my obligation arise? 335 00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:52.940 Did it arise when the child entered the room here where I am? 336 00:27:52.940 --> 00:27:55.940 Or did it arise at the moment the child was orphaned? 337 00:27:55.940 --> 00:27:59.940 When did I get involved with this kid? 338 00:27:59.940 --> 00:28:01.940 Well, she thought about that for a minute. 339 00:28:01.940 --> 00:28:07.140 I said, well, you became obligated at the moment he was orphaned. 340 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:11.780 I said, oh, in that case, how many orphans do we have in the country? 341 00:28:11.780 --> 00:28:18.660 Apparently, I'm obligated to all of them beginning at the moment that they were orphaned. 342 00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:20.840 She said, oh, that wouldn't work out too well, would it? 343 00:28:20.840 --> 00:28:23.460 I said, well, how many orphans are there? 344 00:28:23.460 --> 00:28:24.580 I said, take a number. 345 00:28:24.580 --> 00:28:25.580 You pick it. 346 00:28:25.580 --> 00:28:27.940 She said, well, there must be at least a million. 347 00:28:27.940 --> 00:28:28.940 I said, fine. 348 00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:31.020 I think there are more, but let's settle for a million. 349 00:28:31.020 --> 00:28:39.900 Am I obligated to adopt a million kids and a new one every minute that every new orphan 350 00:28:39.900 --> 00:28:46.940 is orphaned? Why me? What have you got against me? Why do you have to pick on me this way?" 351 00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:51.680 Well then she began to see that this was a little absurd. And she said, well, it would 352 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:55.900 be a good thing. I said, well, certainly it would be a good thing. I'm not opposed to 353 00:28:55.900 --> 00:29:02.860 Good Things. We're talking about obligation and responsibility. The fact is, I have no 354 00:29:02.860 --> 00:29:10.100 obligation to the child at all. And I have no responsibility until I assume an obligation. 355 00:29:10.100 --> 00:29:15.620 That's an opportunity. If I wish to assume it, I may do so. But if I don't, it doesn't 356 00:29:15.620 --> 00:29:21.460 exist. At least that gives us another way of looking at this major question of responsibility 357 00:29:21.460 --> 00:29:23.460 and obligation. Thanks very much.