Jan B. (USA/The Netherlands):
I see a person helping another and that would be taking responsibility - nevertheless, I experience it as too abstract.
John R. (USA):
It appears to me to be more representative of helping, aid or rescue... sorry!
Patricia L. (USA):
I like the notion of the interconnectedness - the unity that creates the whole. Perhaps it means that each of us is part of the whole so our personal responsibility really is important.
John C. (USA):
I like the sculpture. I think that it challenges us to truly help one another by lifting people up, instead of holding them down.
Steve S. (USA):
To me, it looks like a sculpture commemorating a partnership. Or, it resembles Michelangelo’s painting on ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where Adam and God are reaching out towards each other. It doesn't actually evoke in me any echo of the concept of personal responsibility.
Melynda K. (USA):
My first impression is it is very masculine. My second was religious. I saw it as a higher power reaching down to pull you up, giving you strength to get up and stand on your own. I don't see God as being this masculine, so that part I didn't like. I did like the hand reaching down to lift you up... you can choose to look down and not see this or to look up and see there is a way to stand and be a part of this great world.
Peter J. (USA):
I'm not sure - it calls more to mind Solidarity, which is a type of responsibility to community. The hands grasping forearms shows a joint endeavor toward an ideal, but it also expresses a verticality which seems a little too God-like for responsibility. If a "higher being" is pulling us upward, how are we (below) being responsible? It may call to faith to many, as reminiscent of Michelangelo. We are responsible within ourselves, and while our faith may play a part, its a different feeling for me. If the hands were on an equal plane, horizontally, it would be more whole in terms of human values for me.
Oguchi N. (USA - Biafra/south-eastern Nigeria):
Powerful. Awe-inspiring. Responsibility is powerful.
Chris K. (USA):
The sculpture is impressive. It shows that an additional aspect of personal responsibility is to help others achieve their maximum potential. As a parent, I can relate to this. My role with my children (in my opinion) is not to carve them into my image, but rather to help them identify their own possibilities and to maximize their unique gifts and talents, so that they can become all that they can possibly become for themselves. Enabling each person we encounter to become all that he or she can become is perhaps the greatest contribution we can make to one another.
Sally G. (USA):
In all due respect to the artist and those leading this great endeavor, I think the sculpture design is way too masculine and not very creative. It says little to me about personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is so much bigger than this design demonstrates. In the current design, I see one arm reaching DOWN to help another, but today, we need not only to help others, but also desperately need to recognize our own personal responsibility for our own behavior and day-to-day actions---- rich or poor---- of which one hand helping another is only one aspect of such responsibility.
Colleen (Canada):
no comment
Michael M. (USA):
no comment
Bill V. (USA):
This sculpture speaks out to our increasingly complex world, that the answer is simple. It comes down to each person supporting those around them.
Stewart L. (USA):
collaboration, bootstrapping, cooperation, connection
William G. (USA):
Impressions of the sculpture - I like the image of two hands clasping. It symbolizes support and caring. Both hands are reaching out - one reaching up and the other reaching down... can't tell which is "helping" the other... good image of mutual dependency. Personal responsibility in my mind conjures up the notion that we are responsible for the well being of one another and this sculpture captures that idea.
anonymous:
To me this sculpture shows and example of one strong hand supporting or leading another.
anonymous:
I get a notion that within a multicultural society such as ours the visuals and metaphors will differ (of course there MAY be a "universal image" but I expect it would be dog tired (a soaring eagle) ...I suggest regional or sub-culture representations of these concepts...
Manash (Hong Kong):
Great photos. I personally felt a photograph of someone about to jump out to a Bungee or a sky dive represents responsibility vs freedom in a very apt way.
Karel (South Africa):
The sculpture speaks very powerfully to the concept.
Heinrich (Switzerland):
The sculpture should be in the horizontal not in the vertical!