p. 4 | The Sobering Effect of Responsibility by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 17, 1908

The Sobering Effect of Responsibility

By W. A. S.

THE Philippine correspondent of the Chicago Public says that before the establishment of the Filipino Assembly, the leaders of that people were continually criticizing and condemning the governing commission. But now that responsibility is laid upon these men by their election as assemblymen, there has come a change. The correspondent writes:—

They are exemplifying the axiom that responsibility begets conservatism, and for eighty Filipinos of consequence,—men whose influence is dominant and whose word carries decisive weight,—who might otherwise have been a disturbing and disquieting element, we have eighty men who are trying their best to grapple with and solve the problems of the country and to promote its welfare. Many of them, from being destructive, are now constructive, and they are beginning to realize that successful administration is not the light and easy task they thought it while they were on the “outside.”

This same steadying effect of responsibility is often seen in religious work. Many a man, given to easy criticism as he looked on, has been wonderfully sobered by having laid upon him the responsibility of bearing the burden himself. It is one thing to tell how it ought to be done; quite another to actually do it. The man who finds it easiest to tell how a managing board or a conference or church committee ought to have done, is by no means always the most useful man on a committee. But if the easy critic does get where he must take actual responsibility and share burdens of planning and executing, he is sure to learn lessons of humility if he improves his opportunities. W. A. S.