Pages symbolize messengers, youth, innocence, opportunities for change, new possibilities, new growth, new experiences, acquisition of knowledge and expression of new emotions, risk-taking, grace, and art. Swords are associated with reason, thought, logic, will, courage, verbal skill, matters pertaining to the mind and survival in the world and the element of air. This card is a messenger of new ideas and communications.  

"You're daring to commit to some beliefs and attitudes that involve growth and risk.  You are mentally pushing your philosophy to its ultimately conclusions.  You are willing to take the risk of losing the comfort of previous beliefs for the sake of establishing more meaningful values.  You may also be daring to communicate with your inner voices in a new way." - Gail Fairfield

Considering I drew a swords card but reversed in answer to this question, I'd have to say it's a bit of both.  If I'm perfectly honest I'd have to admit that there are times when I respect obligations and there are times when I ignore them.  There are times when I may abuse the obligations others feel towards me or might abuse a personal relationship to get out of an obligations.  My biggest challenge in this area is when I commit myself to something that I really don't want to do but feel obligated to do.  As the date draws closer, I often manage to find some reason to escape the obligation.  However I'm sure this creates some resentment among those I've disappointed.  I think I need to be more firm and clear about my boundaries in this area.  I know in my soul when I shouldn't obligate myself to something but I sometimes manage to talk myself into it anyway.

The lesson for me in this area is that I need to be truthful with myself and with others when it comes to committing myself to anything or becoming obligated.  Although I prefer not to lie to people, I also dislike unnecessary confrontations.  I think I sometimes have challenges dealing with those type of situations.  It's only recently that I've become comfortable enough to tell family and friends that know me well when I don't want to attend some obligatory family event.  For example, I think this modern tendency to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a child's "Sweet 16" is not just ridiculous but is obscene.  So when someone invites me to such an event I have no problem turning them down, although I try to be diplomatic enough not to tell them I think they're being ridiculous and obscene.  Sometimes this pisses them off but I can deal with that.  I also figure that it's only fair since I will never be inviting them to an extravagant Sweet 16.  Besides I have no desire to hang out with a bunch of 16 year old teens.  

My other challenge is walking the fine line between honoring and respecting obligations and being honest about what I'm willing to obligate myself to doing while not forcing my opinions and views on others.  It's very easy for me to become overbearing and opinionate about such things.  I can be quite brilliant with my one-liners if I do say so myself.  Of course that doesn't always help matters.  For example, my sister may accept that I rarely attend her family parties (I just do no like her in-laws and see no reason to subject myself to their company) but that doesn't mean she's happy about it.  I don't feel as though I have an obligation to attend but I also don't make demands of her such as "it's either them or me".  It's my issue so it wouldn't be fair to inflict that demand on her.  Of course that's also a very self-serving explanation too.  Regardless, this card points out that how I handle my obligations may be something that needs further consideration.