rights and responsibilities

reading "The Last Lecture," and just about done...

so many good chapters on a variety of topics. one of the shorter and very poignant chapters is called, "Be a Commutitarian." it's the idea of rights vs. responsibilities. we have great rights in this county, and we spend plenty of time touting our 'rights.' but we forget that every right is accompanied by a responsibility (at least one). to young people, this is literally a foreign concept... all they know is that they have all these 'rights,' but don't understand that if they don't take on the responsibilities that accompany them, these rights might not last forever (myself included)... they have to be maintained.

a couple good snippets:

"We all believe we have the right to a jury trial. And yet many people go to great lengths to get out of jury duty."

"Everyone has to contribute to the common good. To not do so can be described in one word: selfish."