Responsibility and Support - Authorities

 One might define 'Support' as "That which is willingly given outside of what one must." To be one who is a supporter only means to give a part of yourself outside of what you are responsible or obligated to. So what is one truly obligated to? If we were to suppose, for a moment, that obligations were easily defined, one might define an obligation as something that must be done which falls upon the responsibility of some person. However, even that definition carefully leaves out where an obligation comes from. What is the source of an obligation? Who has the right to assign obligations, and why should any obligations exist at all? 

Well, here are three sources one might receive an obligation from, that I have personal experience receiving obligation from. Our authority figures, our beliefs and feelings, and our systems.  Our leaders are most often the people who tell us what to do and just as often do we submit to them. However, in a society where we meet people on a daily basis, there are thousands of daily inputs telling us we "should". I got told the other day to have a piece of cake that I didn't want, and culturally it would be expected to "have the cake" because it's "polite" or "inoffensive." However, in a situation where we are working and our managers must meet a specific metric with their team consisting of you and me, there are certain commands that will be passed down which simply must be accomplished, and others that are intended to fix a certain behavior, or some other intended purpose according to what said manager sees fit. But what about those obligations that nobody talks about? 

If I were to tell you "one must take care of a baby" you would probably say "well duh." But is that an internal push to continue our progeny, or is it a cultural and systemic responsibility pushed onto us from the outside? Well, this is one of those situations where all three are very obvious factors. There's a reason that the saying is "it takes a tribe to raise a child." It takes systems, culture, parents, and the feeling of obligation. But how much of that obligation and responsibility really is legitimate? How much of it is pre-determined according to our own histories and personality, our culture, and our inner world? 

One must take care of an infant, or else the infant will fall into oblivion. One must train up their child in the way that they should go, else the child will fall into sin and be twisted by the thorns of iniquity. So is raising a child "supportive"? With the definition of support that I've given, it would almost never be supportive, because raising a child is one of those things that comes with the most obligations and responsibilities. Now if we were all responsible for raising our children in our community, why wouldn't we be responsible for our community itself? Suppose you walk by the guy who's obviously on drugs and all you can give him is a sneer? Or better yet, an ignorant straightforward look as they search for your eyes? What is your communal responsibility to that man? Well, it depends on your belief, my belief is that I owe that man nothing, but I want to support him by looking at him as if he's an actual human being who happens to be living on this earth with me. It is a deep desire of mine to support him with sustenance, but most of the time all I can offer is presence and attention. They are there, they belong somewhere, and they have a purpose.