Rights refer to the treatment given by a governing body and are universally accepted while responsibility is the actual obligation put into action. The relationship between individuals in a community is defined by their understanding of the relationship between their rights and responsibilities. Maintaining the balance between responsibilities and rights in a relationship is an essential tool in keeping the peace between the people in a relationship or society. However, there is always a natural balance between rights and responsibilities. This essay will focus on the factors that result in the existence of a balance between rights and responsibilities in the community.
Rights have a direct impact on the responsibilities of an individual for example the right to life goes with the responsibility of not harming or taking away the life of others. There is a need to be a balance between rights and responsibilities in a relationship because if one factor overpowers the other there would be a feeling of oppression. The oppression comes when there are lots of duties with limited rights in a union.1 Therefore, someone who looks for freedom should be prepared to perform some duties that relate to the freedom they want. Courts have the task of ensuring that both the rights and duties of an individual are analyzed before passing any judgment.
The strong connection between duties and rights of an individual can be because there cannot be a right without a responsibility involved ; after all, they always go together. It is hard to separate the two aspects of life because they exist as a complement to each other. It is only possible for people to enjoy their rights in a world where every individual has a role to perform in society. This is so because for every duty there is a corresponding right. In a case where people living in society fail to perform their duties, all the rights become meaningless.2 For instance, the rights of an individual are more likely to become their duties because other people also have the same rights thereby obligating the individuals not to go against their rights.
The rights should always be used in the interest of society and respect the rights of the other members of the society. This brings about a sense of responsibility in the whole community or a group of people.3 In society today, there is a balance between rights and responsibilities because in most cases, the rights are taken as a responsibility. For example, everybody has the right to eat healthy meals that are good for the body and this implies that everybody has the responsibility of consuming only the food that is good for their health. Similarly, the parents also have the responsibility of ensuring that their children get their right to eating balanced diets by taking the responsibility of providing them with healthy foods.
The rights of an individual dictate the type of jobs they can be assigned. This is because every right has a corresponding responsibility or task to be done to achieve it. For example, everybody in society has the right to freedom of speech. Therefore, every duty they may be assigned should not be aimed at not violating their or other people’s freedom of speech. The existence of such a correlation ensures the balance between duties and the responsibilities an individual may have. Sometimes there exist rare incidences where the number of rights increases with the increase in the number of responsibilities the individual can handle.
Everybody in a society is expected to respect each other’s rights and freedom. When the rights of everybody are respected, the issue of responsibility is revived because respecting one’s right mean doing things that do not violate their rights. This is illustrated by the fact that everybody has the right to talk therefore, everybody has the responsibility of letting others speak. In the long run, responsibilities and duties end up being balanced resulting in the existence of mutual understanding between them.
The strong relationship between the two can also be claimed to be a result of the penalties involved. For instance, when people fail to do their responsibilities, they end up being charged for violating of the rights of their counterparts. Because of the penalties, most people opt not to neglect the responsibilities assigned to them in the fear of violating other people’s rights. The result is that duties and responsibilities an individual would have would be the same as the rights of other people they should respect.
Many people in their daily activities end up promoting the relationship between duties and responsibilities to achieve their targets in life. For example, parents may work hard to ensure that their children get access to clothes, a balanced diet, and comfortable accommodation. In doing this, they end up respecting their children’s rights such as the right to good clothes, healthy food, and shelter without knowing. The responsibilities exist in such a way that if people do their responsibilities, they end up not violating their rights and those of the people they interact within a daily basis.
Responsibility exists as a result of the existence of rights and freedom in society. The government employs personnel such as the police officers and fire brigade’s department to protect the community from harm and any other associated dangers. Parents also take their children to school as part of their responsibility. The government and the parents do these to safeguard the right to life and the right to have education respectively.4 Therefore, sometimes the balance occurs complimentary when the government, parents, or any other individual is delivering a service to their subjects.
There are many non-governmental organizations in the world each with different purposes and impacts on society. Some of the organizations are specialized in protecting the environment, some deal with building homes for displaced families, and some even go to the extent of sponsoring education in various areas. When these organizations decide to do these tasks, the tasks become their responsibilities and in doing this, the rights of the individuals involved are protected. This can as well be regarded as the explanation as to why there is a balance between duties and rights of individuals in a society.
Activists fighting for the rights of society are as well demanding for some responsibilities to be done. It gives a picture of telling people to perform some tasks to safeguard the rights of the people involved. Therefore, it is clear that in fighting for the rights of people some duties must be performed. For example, the government can impose a certain measure to safeguard those whose rights have been broken. This is another confirmation proving that duties and rights do not exist in the absence of the other.
The state ensures that the rights of its citizens are adhered to and therefore the citizens are expected to be loyal to the state. Being loyal to the state in this case is regarded as one of the most important roles of the citizens.5 They have to adhere to all the state rules and pay taxes anytime the government wants it. They have to be available when needed by the government and provide service as much as they can. Because of these, a citizen of a country has both their rights and responsibilities and is voluntarily forced to oblige to perform their duties. People have the right to life therefore the state expects everybody not to do anything that may endanger their lives.
In leadership, the chosen or selected leaders are given responsibilities to lead their subjects concerning their rights. Everything a leader does when in power will therefore safeguard the rights of the members of the group. There is no single duty that can be performed without considering the impact it will have on the rights of the people.6 The rights and responsibilities have a direct impact on how the leaders use their power. It would be hard for leaders to have responsibilities when there are no rights, leaders lead when there are rights to be safeguarded. This shows the role rights have in dictating the responsibilities a leader may have.
In conclusion, it is true that duties and rights work closely for the good of society and cannot be separated. The rights an individual has can also mean the responsibilities they have in protecting their lives. The rights people have should be used for the good of society because the rights are universal. This gives everybody the responsibility of safeguarding their rights and those of the people around them.
Reference List
Black L, ‘“People Care About Building the Community Here”: Enacting Community in A Women’s Recreational Soccer Group’ (2019) 67 Communication Quarterly.
Popescu-Mitroi M, ‘Do Unborn People Have the Right to Life?’ (2019) 10 JAHR.
Raiko M, ‘Minimum Wage – One of The Most Important State Social Warranties’ [2020] Juridical Scientific and Electronic Journal.
Small R and others, ‘Post Vasectomy Semen Analysis Can Be Performed at 8 Weeks Without Compromising Clearance Rates: A Single Centre Retrospective Study’ (2019) 18 European Urology Supplements.
Vasanthakumar A, ‘Recent Debates On Victims’ Duties to Resist Their Oppression’ (2020) 15 Philosophy Compass.
Young-Mason J, ‘The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders’ (2020) 34 Clinical Nurse Specialist.
Footnotes
- Ashwini Vasanthakumar, ‘Recent Debates On Victims’ Duties to Resist Their Oppression’ (2020) 15 Philosophy Compass.
- Jeanine Young-Mason, ‘The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders’ (2020) 34 Clinical Nurse Specialist.
- Laura W. Black, ‘“People Care About Building the Community Here”: Enacting Community in A Women’S Recreational Soccer Group’ (2019) 67 Communication Quarterly.
- Maria-Monica Popescu-Mitroi, ‘Do Unborn People Have the Right to Life?’ (2019) 10 JAHR.
- M.S. Raiko, ‘Minimum Wage – One of The Most Important State Social Warranties’ [2020] Juridical scientific and electronic journal.
- R. Small and others, ‘Post Vasectomy Semen Analysis Can Be Performed at 8 Weeks Without Compromising Clearance Rates: A Single Centre Retrospective Study’ (2019) 18 European Urology Supplements.