The Importance of Duty
Duty is always associated with the order of events in a given society. The human race is not uncommon to order and the obligation to follow the set rules. The maintenance of order has been a long time assignment for the human race, and any deviation from the order is certain to trouble the peace of the human race. However, the maintenance of order has been one of the leading causes of human troubles. The main cause of disorder in the life of a human being is always related to the dilemmas that come with the requirements that come along with the responsibility to keep order. Several texts have been written to explain some of the challenges that the human race faces in an attempt to stay in line with order and to perform specific duties. Order is generally defined in terms of the ability to remain on the laid down procedures and ensuring that policies are in place to ensure that disorder is not allowed into society. Human beings face challenges while trying to stay aligned with the order of life, but obstacles are always in existence. In the event where the order is compromised, several people are affected, and the impacts are inevitable. In some occasions, order and disorder are affected by the respect for human rights and freedoms. Duty requires that in a bid to live peacefully in the world, the consequences of failing to honor duty are faced by an individual and not the circumstances.
Wole Soyinka is one of the prominent authors who have had a taste of the Nobel Peace Prize and “Death and the King’s Horseman” is one of the works that propelled Soyinka to glory. The “Death and the King’s Horseman” presents the story of a king’s horseman, Elesin, who is required to commit a ritual suicide owing to the death of his king. The order of the society is that Elesin should have committed the ritual, but the British colonial powers distracted the attempt by Elesin to perform his duty. In a bid to build the theme of duty, the failure of the ritual is placed entirely on Elesin, and he has to bear the consequences individually. The society has the belief that the ritual is unavoidable and Elesin has accepted the fact that he has to die. The presentation of Elesin as a man who is enjoying his last day on earth shows how society has been obsessed with culture and the position of duty on the daily lives of human beings.
On a fateful day, Elesin has to obey a noble task of visiting the market place to get a goodbye from the women. According to Elesin, the mothers are his mothers, and he had a duty to feel comfortable before his death. The reader is taken through a journey of building themes and creating imagery of the society’s respect for duty. The organization of the events to take place during the day presents a day that has been in waiting, and that marks the society’s respect for duty. First Elesin is a respectable person from the society, and the women cannot fail to flirt with him during his last day owing to his sexual prowess and the several conquests that he had won “When I come among the women I am a chicken with a hundred mothers…” Soyinka (10). However, respect for duty appears to be more important than the contribution that an individual has on the welfare of society. For example, Elesin is not spared from the ritual even though he has sacrificed enough for society, and he has to accept his failure of the duty.
The duty of Elesin to die for the community cannot be avoided, and his family has to suffer the fate. The ritual is said to have been a failure by Elesin because he had allowed a white girl to distract him from committing suicide. However, Elesin knows that the world will not be in peace because he did not respect his duty to die. Elesin’s son dies as a replacement for Elesin although Elesin finally manages to die by struggling on the cell chains. Therefore, respect for one’s duty is shown as an unavoidable fate, and those who neglect their duties are forced to be circumstances back to do their duty.
Negligence for one’s duty has the risk of bringing severe consequences that affect people who are involved with the victims. In “The Bacchae” by Euripides, the people of Thebes suffer for the mistakes of not accepting the duty to respect one of their gods. Dionysus returns to Thebes after some years and is on a mission to clear his mother’s name that had been tarnished by the people of Thebes. Zeus, who was a god had impregnated Dionysus’ mother but the people of Thebes rejected any tale that related Dionysus to Zeus. Also, Dionysus’ mother was accused of plotting to present her son as a god and was even blamed for triggering his death by lightning. However, the death of Dionysus’ mother had happened due to trickery that had been done by Zeus’ goddess wife who knew that Zeus would kill any mortal being with his divine glow. In the trickery, Hera had lied to Semele that she was able to talk to Zeus in his divinity. Semele is tricked into asking Zeus to appear in his divine form, and Semele dies in the process. Zeus, however, honors his duty to take care of his child and Dionysus is rescued as an infant and Zeus brings him up.
Unfortunately, the people of Thebes fail to accept the duty to recognize Dionysus as a god and thus do not honor the duty to worship Dionysus. The return of Dionysus to the town reveals the consequences that might be suffered for neglecting a certain duty. The duty to worship Dionysus was neglected because the community did not have the necessary information to recognize Dionysus as a god. Therefore, Dionysus kills the king of Thebes and curses Cadmus and his wife. The punishment to the Cadmus family affects the people close to the family for they experience what happens in front of them. Generally, the theme of duty is built, and the importance of respecting duty is upheld.
Duty has a divine obligation with divinity recognizing the responsibility of respecting duty. The freedom to perform one’s duty requires commitment and determination. Sometimes, individuals are forced to abandon their duties if a certain authority is convinced that the performance of the duty is compromised. The Gospel of Mark presents the first days of Jesus in his ministry. God had a duty to save humankind from the deception of the devil, and Jesus was to play the role of a savior in a bid to achieve God’s duty. The gospel of Mark starts with Jesus appearing when John the Baptist is baptizing people and preaching the word of God in River Jordan. However, the duty of Jesus meets challenges as the Pharisees are convinced that the duty to preach the word belongs to them. The Pharisees are worried that Jesus will make their work irrelevant because Jesus was able to perform miracles, unlike the Pharisees who relied on acquired knowledge while preaching. Jesus was committed to fulfilling his duty and did not any distraction to come his way during his ministry days. Also, Jesus included compassion for humanity and did not like the publicity that would come with the miracles that he was performing. For example, Jesus healed a man who was suffering from Leprosy and asked him to remain silent. Jesus knew that the performance of his duty would be distracted if he allowed popularity to rule him.
Duty does not give an option for negligence. Also, duty is defined as an activity that is necessary and does not have to be good. Justice is a duty that has to be done by some authorities, and people have the right to enjoy justice. “Plato’s Republic’ revolves around the discussion on the administration of justice. The ideas passed out in Plato’s Republic reveal that justice is a duty and that whenever justice is ignored, suffering follows. The challenge of Glaucon on Socrates brings to light several obligations that duty plays in ensuring that justice always prevails (Plato, 39). First, Glaucon presents Socrates with the Thrasymachus argument and is interested in knowing the meaning of being just and unjust. In response to the challenge, a lot of details are revealed, and the claim that justice is a duty is affirmed. For example, the administration of justice does not necessarily follow goodwill but is done because justice is necessary. Most people who administer justice do not do so willingly but have the duty to do what is necessary. Therefore, duty has nothing to do with what is good but is based on what is necessary.
The assignment of duty is accompanied by a follow up by a certain authority to see that the assigned duty is done to the expectations. The creation story presented in book of Genesis in the Bible shows the responsibility of various parties in the performance of duties. First, the assigner of duty has the responsibility to oversee and ensure that duty is performed. God gave human beings the duty to attend to the Garden of Eden and to respect the tree that was planted at the center of the garden. However, human beings failed in the duty to avoid eating of the forbidden fruit. God fulfilled His overseer duty and punished human beings for what they had done. Secondly, anyone who interferes with the fulfillment of a duty suffers from the outcomes of the negligence. For example, the serpent was cursed for deceiving humankind into eating of the forbidden fruit. Human beings eventually suffered for working in collaboration with the devil to neglect their duty of honoring God.
In sum, duty is any activity that is done either willingly or unwillingly because it is necessary. The performance of a duty does not allow for the option of negligence, and consequences are inevitable in the event of negligence. Duty requires that in a bid to live peacefully in the world, the consequences of failing to honor duty are faced by an individual and not the circumstances. Several texts that have been in the course of reading have shown the importance of honoring the performance of duties and the consequences of negligence.