Hannah Arendt's Responsibility & Judgment

In this blog, I will try to relate my two service experiences to two quotes from Hannah Arendt’s book, “Responsibility and Judgment”. I will start off with my service at the Marin Youth Center teaching youth the art of “bboying” aka break dance. In her book the author states, “I tried to show that our decisions about right and wrong will depend upon our choice of company, of those with whom we wish to spend our lives” (145-146). This quote is very true and manifests in the decisions made by the kids that I work with. A lot of them seem a little rough around the edges at times but it differs depending on the different groups of kids. Some of them choose to be wild and run around, so they never really listen when told to stop. Others, however, choose to hang out with the more quiet kids in the computer lab and do not seem to cause much trouble or noise. Then there are those that choose to learn to break dance who I have seen make smart decisions outside of the center. Break dancing teaches them perseverance, confidence, and creativity. I have been told that it helps them to participate and not be shy at school and to not be afraid of learning and discovering new things. Thus, it is evident that like Arendt’s quote, these kids decision are influenced by the company and people they hang out with.

Hannah Arendt writes in the chapter "Collective Responsibility," that "we can escape this political and strictly collective responsibility only by leaving the community, and since no man can live without belonging to some community, this would simply mean to exchange one community for another and hence one kind of responsibility for another" (150). In helping at the Marin Aids Project, I have felt a new sense of “community” with the agency. I am now part of a group/collective who endeavor to educate people on the facts of HIV/Aids and prevention techniques as well as how to deal with being positive. Although I do not actually counsel people or interact a lot with them, I do my part by helping the administration and making their job more efficient. My effort and responsibilities are all part of a big effort to help the community of Marin.