A friend of mine once remarked that a certain paster at the Anaheim Vineyard is a very "responsible" man. I agreed, and thought nothing of it at the time, but later I became puzzled. I want to become more and more "responsible" as time goes on and the process of maturation continues, so I asked myself: Wwhat exactly does it means to call someone responsible? That is, what is true of a "responsible" person that is not true of someone who is more "irresponsible"?
We observe that responsibility, as a word, is a compound of "respond" and "ability," which could result in a clever definition of this church leader as one with the ability to respond to his congregations needs, to his fellow men in conversation, etc.
While clever, this is unsatisfactory. So what is it? When I observe the man, I consistantly notice how pleasant he is to be around. His company is enjoyable, it seems, because he is such a loving man. He does to others what he would want them to do to him. That is, he loves us, his friends and parishoners, as he loves himself. Now here is the clue.
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