However, when reality came to check on us, we realized that we were not, in fact, planning a working trip. After all, we only had 2 days to plan out a twenty-eight-day expedition for thirty people with different medical concerns, different personalities and different needs in terms of education and inspiration, to travel almost one third of the Earth’s circumference. Among these youngsters who were making an extremely immature and rough plan, none of them knew how to drive, what vehicle equipment is used for what purposes, what medications needed to be brought and how they were used, or even the gas stations and landmarks along the route… As we listed more and more flaws that we all had, we realized that the only qualifying planner was, in fact, Billy. Billy is one of the chief instructors, with 46 years of life experience, 19 years of serving the army as a medic, has several driving licenses and hiking/climbing experiences, great physical and mental qualities, and credit cards, toughbooks, and all of the equipment… It became painfully clear who was truly responsible for the entire trip.
As mentioned in the last one-thousand-five-hundred-word essay talking about responsibility, the more power or abilities one has, the more responsibilities one has to carry. If someone asked us if we feel ashamed by the fact that we came up with a failing plan, we would definitely answer that we do not. As Billy told us along the trip, we were paying money and time to make mistakes and learn from them. Billy will be the one who guides you and leads you out of darkness created by your mistakes. As being a group of youngsters, our responsibility is to learn and pack experiences into our life. Whenever you are not requested to perform particular tasks, but to stare at someone else handling it with Billy, do not blame yourself and think that you are a scrap metal or something. A real life example experienced by our team members is such – at once we had our trailer’s left tire gone flat and totally damaged. Sparks were created when the ream created friction with the gravel road. We were forced to stop right beside the highway when we planned to travel to Fort Nelson from Tombstone. Once the Sprinters stopped, Billy quickly called all the so-called big and strong guys to get out of the vehicles and help the HQ team to lift up the trailer in order replacing the tire. None of us were called to be there and help. Michael Fung/ Mich. F came down after the helping team had lifted up the trailer, but still… we knew the reason behind such arrangement because we were not those physical guys. Yet, Billy told us that everyone has their own beauty, or in other words, personal strengths. Some of them are physically capable and thus are employed as labor workers, some of them are mentally capable and thus are employed as thinkers and planners. Well, people who are capable of both sides would be optimal, but, in the end, we are human beings who are known to be imperfect. As long as you know your limits and how your personal beauty works, you should not be blaming yourself and drive yourself into irreversible darkness or depression.
So, why not just be oneself and learn from Billy as he tackles his countless responsibilities including education, food, accommodation, inventory, mechanical, driving, photographing… Learn from the best, don’t stress oneself, and eventually become the best.
As well, tying back to the idea that the more power one has, the more responsibilities they have, one’s responsibilities correspond directly to their abilities. For example, Billy, who is, without a doubt, the most capable out of all of us, has to deal with the most responsibilities. Black shirts, who have the most training, must obviously have more responsibilities than Yellow shirts who have only basic training. While raising in ranks may seem like a good thing, one also has to prepare for the increase in responsibilities that he or she has to face. In addition, one’s different abilities also can mean different responsibilities. If one person has a special talent with cars, it wouldn’t be very illogical to put him/her in charge of vehicles rather than in charge of cooking. And if somebody is really knowledgeable about streets, it would be strange to put a wonderful photographer in charge of navigation instead of him. Overall, one’s responsibilities stem directly from one’s abilities for the sake of maximum efficiency.
Speaking of which, another responsibility that we’ve learnt that leaders must have is observing their followers and finding their strengths. On our way back from Inuvik, the leadership were in charge of assigning people to different jobs for the day. To do this, they would have to observe and closely recognize the student’s different strengths and weaknesses. Who is good at cooking? Who can discipline the others? What about cleaning? The leadership had to everyday place people in different jobs and then evaluate how someone did at the job to know if they should be put in the same job again or if they might do better at a different job.
Also, as a leader, one has to be first in and last out. Whenever we arrive a place possibly available for accommodation or camping, Billy always sticks with the first-in-last-out philosophy – he gets out of the car and ask the rest of us to stay in the vehicle. He then walks to the reception area to deal with the accommodation arrangements and payments. Then, he will browse around the living area (regardless it is a campground or motel or hotel) and make sure he knows the fire exits, facilities, services, culture, people who are living nearby and so on. Last-out seems to be a little bit indirect or vague, but we can still learn how Billy follows the last-out philosophy. Last out in our opinion is last out of danger, or last to reach safety. Billy is always the last person to go to sleep at night despite having to suffer through more crazy driving in the morning. He has to deal with all the administration work, read all the blogs, make sure all the photos have been uploaded and backed up, answer any comments or questions from parents, deal with his company’s issues, plan out tomorrow’s activities and even more that us students don’t even know about. Because he has so much experience and abilities, he is able to lead us all and still stay behind to wrap up.
The purpose of this essay is not to list out all the responsibilities that Billy has to take and show the readers how Billy is such a capable and qualified leader whom we rely on. The purpose of this essay is to reveal how we learn from Billy in this trip about responsibilities. We definitely can not change ourselves into another form of Billy right after the trip has ended. We need patience, perseverance and time to learn exactly what Billy has told us. Billy learnt from the very pains that were perhaps considered as typical in his generation. We, however, learn from an environment in which we are protected by safety nets. We do not necessarily need to be ashamed of sucking what Billy sucked in the past to learn the same stuff as long as we try our best to fulfill our mission and carry out the responsibility of learning and enriching our lives, then it should be very fine. You do not need to compare thyself to others, but to be yourself. Everyone has their own responsibilities simply because they have different abilities.
In conclusion, responsibilities are equivalent to one’s abilities. As one grows over time, one’s responsibilities are bound to grow in proportion. However, one should not stress their self to be someone else to face their responsibilities. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses which correspond to the responsibilities that they must carry.
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