This is one such word, forever flirting with consequences.
The word carries a lot of baggage. Some of it is tempting and promising, while other parts feel rather threatening. Who hasn’t felt it, that hand on the shoulder saying: that was your mistake? As a young person, the word turns up sooner or later and warns you: “Hey, from now on you’ll personally answer for your actions.”
The wonderful lightness of being without consequences is over. Or it was only ever partly there to begin with.
I’m puzzled by how this word is built. Why does “Antwort” — answer — sit right in the middle? An answer to what? To a reproach, or even a charge? The answer to that is YESNO.
The word is a building kit: “ver- + ant- + Wort + -ung.” Every piece has something to say. “Ant-” is an old prefix meaning “against, opposite,” a relative of the Greek-influenced “anti,” as in Antlitz (countenance). Translated literally, “Antwort” actually means “counter-word.” The “ver-” intensifies and completes the term. One doesn’t just answer — one stands for something. And finally, “-ung” turns the action into a state.
Well, there we go.
Back in Middle High German, if someone was accused of something, they had to “verantwürten.” Translated into plain German, that means to defend oneself, or to answer the charge.
The Latin speakers saw it differently. Where the Germanic tribes heard a reproach, the Latins heard a promise. Their word is “respondere,” and it splits into two. “Re” stands for back, and “spondere” means “to solemnly vow.”
Well now. The Latins answered with a promise, and the Germanic peoples answered with a reproach.
Here in the English-speaking parts, “responsible” — and in the French-speaking parts, “responsable” — is seen first as an obligation, and only afterward does accountability get demanded.
Verantwortung and responsible make thinking creatures pause and reflect before they throw themselves into action. Especially when illegal acts are still in the planning stage, that slightly longer pause for thought can prevent a good deal of damage.
Of course, for those of us on the receiving end of Verantwortung, it’s rather tiresome when we have to answer for our own doings. But that’s how a just society functions, at the very foundation of humanism.
And how does the matter appear today?
Oh no. I read this morning’s news — and search for the word in vain.
Every morning I sit down, gather my morning’s news, and find myself astonished, alarmed, appalled, hopeful, and above all questioning.
Many of the reports leave me staring dumbfounded into the tube, where this word “Verantwortung” is hardly to be spotted.
When did the term step off the world stage, past obligation and accusation alike?
Did I miss the memo that Verantwortung has been slapped with a ban in the 21st century as an unwanted word?
Hold on.
Appearances deceive — or downright cheat. Because elsewhere the word is still being shouted loud and clear. All over the world, and recently also at the UN General Assembly, it became clear that people don’t just remember Verantwortung as a demand — they actually call for it.
Irresponsible behaviour is no foundation for the world community to build on, or to want to build on. That, at least, is what humanity’s rather short history has taught us so far.
I remind myself, again and again, not to ignore my own personal Verantwortung and its awareness.
It’s a damned tiresome thing, holding up such a mirror to yourself before the morning shave. But it’s necessary.
I’m part of the human species, in its late-adult stage. That’s reason enough to take my Verantwortung literally, and to keep my prospective promise. Yes, I feel responsible for my family and my friends. Sometimes that extends to strangers too. And often a stranger’s smile is receipt enough.
Yes, I see many — happily many — events that have everything to do with Verantwortung. Freely shaped Homo sapiens are, by now, well-trained when it comes to justice and Verantwortung.
And they speak up, whether on the street or in parliament.
And perhaps, in the end, even hope carries its share of Verantwortung — voluntarily.
