Vastutusluuletus
Oli kord ettevõte, kus oli üks tähtis osakond, kus neli inimest tegid tähtsat tööd. Ühel päeval aga juhtus nii …
Oli teha üks tähtis töö. Igaüks oli kindel, et Mõni teeb selle ära. Kestahes oleks võinud seda teha, kuid Keegi ei teinud. Mõni sai vihaseks, sest see oli Igaühe töö. Igaüks arvas, et Kestahes võiks seda teha, kuid Keegi ei taibanud, et Igaüks seda ei tee. Asi lõppes sellega, et Igaüks süüdistas Mõnda, ehkki Keegi ei teinud seda, mida Kestahes võinuks teha.
Tõlkinud Mati Soomre
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
Tundmatu autori kokkuvõte
CHARLES OSGOOD „Vastutusluuletus“.
The Responsibility Poem
There was a most important job that needed to be done,
And no reason not to do it, there was absolutely none.
But in vital matters such as this, the thing you have to ask
Is who exactly will it be who’ll carry out the task?
Anybody could have told you that Everybody knew
That this was something Somebody would surely have to do.
Nobody was unwilling; Anybody had the ability.
But Nobody believed that it was their responsibility.
It seemed to be a job that Anybody could have done,
If Anybody thought he was supposed to be the one.
But since Everybody recognized that Anybody could,
Everybody took for granted that Somebody would.
But Nobody told Anybody that we are aware of,
That he would be in charge of seeing it was taken care of.
And Nobody took it on himself to follow through,
And do what Everybody thought that Somebody would do.
When what Everybody needed so did not get done at all,
Everybody was complaining that Somebody dropped the ball.
Anybody then could see it was an awful crying shame,
And Everybody looked around for Somebody to blame.
Somebody should have done the job
And Everybody should have,
But in the end Nobody did
What Anybody could have.
by CHARLES OSGOOD
