Never too young to display real responsibility

TOUCHING: Keith Thorsen, Carterton, reads a World War I letter from an 8-year-old New Zealand boy to Major General Alexander Godley, the commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

The reading of a well-scripted letter, by an 8-year-old boy in 1914, asking Major-General Godley if he could be allowed to fight in the war despite his age, was touching and endearing at Sunday's Wai Word event in Carterton, and brings to mind the concept of duty.

Teddy Reynolds, 8, wanted to do his "bit", and I suspect this was the case for many New Zealanders of that time. England was very much "home". It was Mother England, and New Zealand was part of the British Empire.

Combine that with the concept that heading off to fight in exotic lands sounded the biggest adventure going, and it's probably no wonder people felt a compulsion to do their duty.

It is probably not until after the casualty counts start coming in, and news of the disasters of some campaign, that a creeping disillusionment would occur.

New Zealand followed England again in World War II but, after that, the country did not follow blindly into campaigns.

Doing one's duty is a phrase rarely heard these days, perhaps because duty implies a role carried out by rote, powerfully implied and pressured among your peers. It involves a need to be part of something larger, a sense that without the mass, we will not prevail. We hear more talk today about one's responsibilities, which are generally more complex, more open to interpretation, and more likely to suffer from malaise and laziness.

There is no vast collective out there, spurring you on with peer pressure to do the right thing. In that sense, duty becomes easy, especially in wartime. Responsibilities are much, much harder.

Today, we "prevail" against the complexity of our culture.

Some fail in their responsibilities to their families, to themselves, to society. We hit our partners, we eat food that will kill us before 50, we commit crimes.

The chance for children to exhibit and practise responsibility and leadership should never be underestimated, and parents should grab every opportunity for their children, because self-esteem comes with being responsible.

No child is too young to take ownership of something and run with it.

Teddy Reynolds, despite his age, clearly thought so.