On Being Responsible

As a responsible human, "responsible citizen" is senseless to me.

Everytime we are asked to define our responsibilies we immediately list down all the relationships we have in life. Our responsibility as a daughter/son,  our responsibility as a friend,  our responsibility to the society,  etc and these are considered great since they sound all selfless.  And they are selfless. And that's precisely why I'm against them.

As human beings,  with six senses,  one's only responsibility in life,  is to act truthful to one's own beliefs and  convictions that one has defined rationally to oneself.  Without self,  without perceiving the self there is no society there are no relationships. If selflessness is a virtue then Life has no meaning.

You can define your life as a function of your dreams,  desires and actions or define it as a function others' dreams for you and actions others'define for you.

But whatever variables are in the equation,  consequences are going to be yours and only yours. 

You could always give up your dreams,  because your parents and you had conflict of interests.  Maybe you can justify it saying you acted as a responsible daughter/son.
But at the end of the day, when you look back you are going to see the path you traversed irrespective of whom the driver was. And when you do look back, you could either feel content or contempt.  Success or failure the road we took ourselves always imparts contentment. Because destination is not what matters,  it's the journey and there is no way to enjoy a journey as a pillion rider,  on your own vehicle.