Duty Is Love Made Visible Through Action

Duty is an unfashionable word. It sounds stiff. It sounds like obedience. It sounds like someone in a collar telling someone in an apron to know their place.

But that is not the only meaning of duty.

Duty is breakfast. School. Dishes. Work. Care. Promises. The elderly parent. The child with a temperature. The colleague who needs the deck before 4. The household that does not run on intentions.

Duty is the part of love that does not depend on mood.

When I was in college, I studied Gandhi. Through Gandhi, I encountered the Bhagavad Gita, and one idea has stayed with me ever since. Arjuna does not want to go into battle. He sees the cost. He is overwhelmed. He wants to lay down his bow. And Krishna does not say, "That sounds hard. Protect your peace." Krishna teaches him about doing what is his to do without attachment to the fruits of the action.

Do what is yours to do because it is yours to do. Not because victory is guaranteed. Not because you will be thanked. Not because it feels good. Because the work is yours.

Ten years ago, the morning after the worst thing that ever happened to me, my daughter came into my room and kissed my nose. She had just turned five. I thought I would be too destroyed to be her mother that morning.

But she needed breakfast. So I made breakfast.

For a long time after that, purpose was too far away. I could not imagine changing the law. I could not imagine advising government. I could barely imagine the next week.

But duty was immediate. Duty did not ask me to be inspiring. It asked me to stay.

Sometimes that is the whole job.

Emily Hunt-Adiletta OBE is a bestselling author and keynote speaker.

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