Someone You Can Trust: Responsibility

This week at Falling Creek, campers are hearing about responsibility, part of the Moral Compass in the Falling Creek Code: Take responsibility for your actions.

At camp, responsibility often looks ordinary. It is keeping up with your belongings, doing your cabin job, arriving where you are supposed to be, and admitting when you made a mistake. But those small choices matter because they rarely affect only one person.

Benson E. from Chattanooga, Tennessee, sees that clearly during cabin cleanup. This week, his jobs have included cleaning the sink and the toilet.

He described the cabin chores as a line of dominoes or a house of cards. Each boy has one piece to hold up, and if someone does not do his job, the whole cabin can receive a lower score during inspection.

Do yours first, then pick up the slack,” Benson said. “At camp, you have to fix your mistake.

For Benson, responsibility means doing his part because the rest of the cabin is counting on him.

That same lesson becomes even more important for boys who are preparing to lead others.

Thomas “Trip” Bowen, a member of STEEL, hopes to return one day as a cabin counselor. He knows that before he can ask younger campers to be responsible, he has to show them what that looks like.

You have to get it to give it,” Trip said. “Being in charge of your own actions means I have to act differently here at camp than I do at home. I want to lead a cabin, so I have to step up.

For Trip, leadership begins long before he is placed in charge of a cabin. It begins with the choices he is making now.

At Campfire, the lesson came through a superhero named Blob, who believed he only needed to act like a hero when someone was watching. What he did not know was that his biggest fan, Nard-dog, had followed him and seen everything, including Blob throwing rocks into the lake.

You aren’t a superhero. You are super irresponsible! Nard-dog told him.

Blob asked for forgiveness and for help doing better.

Later on in Campfire, Counselor Dair Macfarland from Houston, Texas reminded the boys of Uncle Ben’s familiar words to Spider-Man: With great power comes great responsibility.

Responsibility, he told them, is not a burden but a gift. Small jobs like taking out the trash, clearing the table, or finishing homework teach boys to follow through. As they prove they can be trusted with those things, they are prepared for greater responsibilities as teammates, leaders, brothers, sons, and one day, men. Taking responsibility helps them grow, solve problems, and become the kind of people who lift up those around them.

Henry F. from Charlotte sees responsibility in his older brother, Ben.

He’s always there for me. He’s kind. He’s giving,” Henry said. “If he messes up, he admits it. He takes the blame.

Henry remembered a time when Ben received a disappointing grade. Rather than blaming the teacher or making an excuse, Ben admitted that he could have worked harder.

Working harder does not always guarantee the grade you want. At camp, a boy can finish his cabin job and the cabin may still miss inspection. A team can prepare well and still lose. Sometimes you do what is right and the outcome is still disappointing. Responsibility is not a bargain that promises everything will work out. It is being honest about the part that belongs to you and doing it faithfully anyway.

That is what Henry admires in his brother. Ben could not change the grade after the fact, but he could own his part in it and decide what to do next.