In part 2 of this series, I introduced the concept of responsibility at individual and social levels. In this chapter, we delve into the crucial role of intention in responsibility, underlining the importance of conscientiousness even in the littlest tasks.
The Invisible Impact of Our Actions
People are constantly watching how we act. We may not know it until we reach out to others to recommend us for a role, and we feel dismayed when we catch a hesitation in their demeanour or pleasantly surprised, depending on the situation.
We ponder the reason but cannot ascertain why they passed us for someone else on the job; this is akin to LinkedIn recommendations; there, when we endorse someone’s skills, we affirm our belief in their abilities and capacity to excel.
When someone recommends another for a role, they automatically take responsibility for the person they recommend. If that person falls short of the endorsement, the recipient may hesitate to seek future recommendations.
Hence, we want to give our best when it’s time for us to put someone forward because we are entering into a trust with the recommended and the recipient of the recommendation. But before we get to this stage where people ask for our thoughts in recommending another, we start from within by building ourselves towards being worthy of becoming recommended.
Performing Roles with Good Intentions
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well
Martin Luther King Jr.
When I think of ‘responsibility,’ I think of action imbued with ‘good work.‘ An adage in Igbo goes, ‘Ozi adịghị nwata mma, o je ya nje na abụ.’ The literal translation of this proverb is: ‘If an errand is not good for a child, the child goes on the errand twice.
I grew up hearing my grandparents and older aunts and uncles use the above phrase to emphasise the role of intention in responsibility.
This literal translation encapsulates a specific thought process from the Igbo culture: if a child believes an errand or ‘responsibility’ is beneath them and, as a result, does not perform it well initially (perhaps finding various ways to avoid the task), the sender will ensure they repeat the errand until they execute the chore satisfactorily. In this context, whether the errand is deemed suitable for the child is decided by the adult and not the child.
For instance, if an adult sends a child to buy crayfish from the market, and the child throws a tantrum for about 30 minutes, gets distracted playing street football, and comes back 2.5 hours later with Moi Moi instead, the sender would wonder about the relationship between Crayfish and Moi Moi before sending the child back to the task.
Sending the child a second time to the market might not be all the repercussions the child has to bear from the task assigned to them. The sender may also have to punish this child to instil some sense of value, discipline, and responsibility in them.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.
Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
Performing a role with good intentions means seeing a task as not just an assignment, but an opportunity to take ownership and make an impact. Some people call it ‘the calling.’ The calling is why many influencers advocate for making our passion our job. Steve Jobs called it ‘doing great work’ and endorsed it in his commencement address to the 2005 set of Stanford graduates.
The energy and dedication we bring to this responsibility and how we respond can significantly influence the outcome. Expressions such as ‘you did it with so much love, are not merely feedback; they highlight the tangible impact of our heart-filled efforts.
This connection between intention and output was something I grasped at an early age. I remember an instance from childhood when, after tasting a meal I had prepared, my uncle queried, ‘Ifunanya, were you in a bad mood when you made this?’ I cannot remember my emotional state at the time, but his question underlined a truth that has stuck with me: our attitudes and intentions, even when unseen, leaves an imprint on our actions.
Nigerians use ‘yeye dey smell. When breeze blow, fowl nyash go open‘ to convey that nobody can hide the truth. Just as the wind can blow to expose what the chicken was sitting on, so too can life events reveal the true intent behind an action.
Consider the case of renting apartments in Lagos, Nigeria. Lagosians share an experience of inheriting house issues from a newly rented apartment. Property owners often build their houses with substandard products that break easily and cause a lot of frustration for their occupants. Eventually, when this occurs, the landlord ends up being equally affected, as was my case when one of the toilets in my house broke and had to be knocked down and rebuilt. The previous one kept leaking water into my neighbour’s apartment downstairs, and it became messy. Eventually, my landlord’s attempt to save money by building with less quality materials became futile, as he lost more money due to the repairs. I have lost count of the numerous issues I have faced in my current house: from leaking toilets to leaking walls, to a leaking roof, to faulty electrical appliances, to a shaky floor. At one point, I wondered if my apartment would fall on me. One of my neighbours left before his one-year rent was due, and nobody has called to check on the house since he left.
A recurring question around moral consequences is: if someone will eventually have to fulfil a responsibility or a role, either assigned to them or chosen by them, out of duty or for their profession, should they not approach it with good intentions?
Conclusions in Preparation for the Next Part
In a world where our actions echo louder than our words, our intentions shape the resonance of our responsibilities. As we journey through life, it is crucial to remember that the ‘tasks’ we deem beneath us today could well be the stepping stones for tomorrow’s triumphs. Let us embrace Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, striving to approach our role, no matter how routine or small, with love, good intentions, an open heart and a focused mind, recognising that our responsibility speaks to our character.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this section as much as I did writing it. The next part will explore the role of action and reason in responsibility and how we can move together as a community.
The winged time traveller 