"Responsibility, what's that?"

I posted the following on my other blog, but i thought it's worth putting here since it is religious in nature. My good buddy Ian recently forwarded an article to me entitled "Enough with the self-esteem, already." It was written by Betsy Hart and published in Scripps Howard News Service. The main thrust of the article was about how we have entered into this social mentality of telling everyone that they are perfect just the way they are. From this mentality people are getting an attitude that they should be rewarded just for existing as themselves. She says, "We have young people being raised on a steady diet of 'I'm awesome just as I am.' One popular parenting Web site says, 'helping your child grow up with strong self-esteem is the most important task of parenthood.' Oh? What about learning to esteem others?" She also mentions that college students now feel they should earn at least a B just for showing and other things of this nature. I admit I mostly liked this article because I agree with it and she presented the topic in an interesting and funny. She had some good sarcasm. However it also reminded me of a talk that elder oaks gave several years ago called "Where will it lead?" Said he, "The wrong course is also set with another kind of parental indulgence. Some parents seem to have the attitude that their children can do no wrong. They defend them against any criticism, correction, or painful experience from anyone outside the family circle." He went on to say this about responsibility, "I am concerned about the current overemphasis on rights and underemphasis on responsibilities. Where will this lead in our public life? no society is so strong that it can support continued increases in citizen rights while neglecting to foster comparable increases in citizen responsibilities or obligations."I agree with this also. I think that we as a whole need to reemphasize the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions. It seems like we see too much pointing of the proverbial finger when mistakes are made, and not enough standing up for what needs to be stood up for. I just thought this was something interesting to think about.