Who is responsible?

Who is responsible?

This is a question that modern society as a whole seems reluctant, or unable, to answer. Parents have apparently abjured all responsibility for their children, whom they are either completely incapable of, or unwilling to control. Why does society tolerate this attitude? Why are the parents not legally compelled to answer for their delinquent offspring?
In fact, the law encourages miscreants, often making it impossible to bring them to book on technicalities, while everyone (except the parents) has no doubt as to the perpetrators. I myself am still waiting to be compensated for the slashing of Tiger’s tyres on the one night of his life that he happened to be in town.
The lethal habits of motorists are a frequent topic of conversation these days. Who is responsible for this deadly behaviour? No one owns up. The car manufacturers are responsible for not regulating the speeds of their products. The Government is responsible for not cancelling in perpetuity the licence of anyone who once failed a breathalyser test.
What on earth has happened in today’s classrooms, where teachers are intimidated and pupils frequently arrive with shotguns? Responsibility has gone out the window there, is the answer, because of nonsensical rules ordaining that children may not be chastised. All young animals require chastising as part of their training – they have no respect for authority where it is lacking. “Spare the rod and spoil the child”.
You may have noticed that any new disciplinary measures proposed by the Government result in the accusation of instigating a nanny state. If it was a real nanny state, the stocks would be re-introduced and chain gangs of miscreants would be employed to repair whatever damage they might have caused themselves and to otherwise enhance the landscape.
Another life-enhancing dictum to have fallen by the wayside is “Children should be seen and not heard”. Nowadays it’s impossible to escape the wails and screams of juveniles whether out shopping, or in a restaurant, or trying to communicate with their minders in any location. The parents, of course, are responsible for this anarchy. Why is it permitted? Are they afraid of their offspring, or just too feeble-minded to assert themselves?
Then there’s the question of abortion – another red-hot potato that no one wants to be responsible for, particularly those who actually cause the necessity for it, i.e. men. Men, (according to themselves) are always entirely blameless when it comes to an unwanted pregnancy – have had nothing to do with it, in fact, so it is naturally the woman’s problem, either to face the consequences of an abortion, or to be stuck with rearing a child. In the Muslim world the woman who contravenes their sexual mores is stoned to death. Who is really responsible?
No one can deny, though, that it is men who are responsible for causing wars. The reasons are often so illogical. Take the current one – who started it, the Hizbollah for kidnapping two soldiers, or the Israelis for reacting in such a way that they have to date lost 58 soldiers? Does it make sense?
But back to more mundane questions: who in our town is responsible for the seasonal decorations? Last year’s Christmas tree, for example, exceeded its sell-by date for so long that it was in danger of becoming an Easter feature. The same applied to lighting displays and is the norm for tributes celebrating sporting events, which remain in situ until they eventually become parodies. Is this due to collective apathy on the part of the Council, or is there one particular person who has expended so much creativity in dreaming up these decorations that it causes too much heartbreak to remove them?
And, finally, who is responsible, in various Eastern countries, for encouraging, or allowing, their citizens to come here in search of “a better life” without explaining the circumstances – in particular that nobody chooses to have an employee that cannot speak the language. Because of this negligence there are now at least a thousand homeless immigrants on the streets of Dublin alone.