Character Counts, a character education program, presents six important ethical values; Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. Although all six are important ethical values, I view responsibility as being the most vital characteristic to acquire. Responsible people are constantly labeled as the "fun-ruiners" of the group, reminding others of the consequences and pushing people to take fault for their actions. The phrase "take responsibility" has gained a negative connotation in society, sounding more like a painful task rather than an inborn characteristic. Responsible people are those who constantly plan ahead to stay organized, do their best to maintain self-control in stressful or uncomfortable situations, and those who thoughts always precede their actions. Taking responsibility for your own thoughts, words, and actions is one of the most important skills to master, and one of the hardest. Owning up to one's faults and mistakes is near impossible without a good amount of self-discipline, another component of the responsible person.
The importance of responsibility is especially evident in the field of psychology. Every practicing therapist must know their personal responsibility, and its limitations. A therapist is responsible for every piece of advice given and path they direct a patient towards, but they are not responsible for the actions of their client. Some patients will blame a therapist if something is going wrong, trying to evade their own personal responsibility. Giving advice others, deciding which techniques to use with a patient, and exercising self-control in stressful situations all requires a great amount of careful thought and planning. A person lacking responsibility would not be able to balance all these tasks, unable to be an effective psychologist.
