The Importance of Responsibility in Life : หน้า 13/207

1.1) Responsibility in duty and work. This means, no matter what the work is, the amount of work, its ease or difficulty, whether or not the situation is favorable, whether or not the budget is limited, whether or not one has limited assistance, limited time, or limited knowledge, even with all of these factors, a person who is truthful always pays attention to responsibility by successfully completing the task and doing so to the best of his/her ability. 1.2) Responsibility in speech. This means that one’s speech must match one’s actions and one’s actions must match one’s speech. It is irresponsible for a person to say s/he did a foot, if that person really did an inch. It is irresponsible for a person to say that he/she did more than a foot, if that person did less than that. One’s actions should always be described truthfully in words. 1.3) Responsibility in how friends are made. Friends should be made with sincerity and without hidden agendas. Whatever one must say or whatever warning one must give to a friend, one must be straightforward. One must be sincere. And most importantly, one must not be biased or prejudiced in any of the following four ways: biased because of love, biased because of hatred, biased because of stupidity, or biased because of fear. 1.4) Responsibility in goodness and moral standards. This means that a person should have Dhamma as his/her foundation. As such, this person will not want to do something that is wrong, that would go against the Precepts, against Dhamma, against the culture, or against the laws of the country. Demonstrating this responsibility will prevent a person from going to prison and Hell, and will open Heaven’s door to that person. Therefore, when this information is analyzed in this fashion, a person who has truthfulness is responsible in his/ her work, speech, choice of friends, and has moral principles. Thus, that person thinks, speaks, and acts with sincerity and good intentions so everything is done in the best possible way. This is a way to elevate one’s knowledge and ability, and to bring out one’s best person continually. As our truthfulness can be seen in these four ways, the more we possess, the more responsibility we have. These kind of people can maintain this simple foundation constantly in their minds. Whatever they do, they will do it to the best of their ability; whatever they say, they will say it as clearly as possible; and their minds will have the most steady moral foundation as possible. A truthful person is not only a trustworthy person in the family but is trustworthy with friends as well. The suspicion that friends may have of that person from the past will decrease. But if a person is not truthful, that person will always be greeted with suspicion and distrust. Good people will escape and avoid