The Proper Role for the Citizen in the Society - Essay Example

The Proper Role for the Citizen in the Society From the early childhood the society provides us with most of the things we need. It is the society that gives our parents the opportunity to be employed and thus support their family financially; it provides all the needed facilities for us to grow up successfully, like nursing schools, hospitals, schools, colleges etc. After we grow up the society gives us the opportunity to actualize our potentials, and, to take our own place in its structure by competing with other individuals. Society is the ecosystem where people live, and being deprived of it, the human beings rarely survive. Considering all these fact a question arises for each and every individual sooner or later, whichs what is the proper role for the citizen in the society. What should we do for to keep the environment we live in balanced, and pleasant to dwell in? Are we obliged to contribute to the society we live in? Every individual has to find his own answer, or answers for these questions. Those answers come after years of life; they are dictated by the kinds of experience the person has. Thus, in my opinion, every viewpoint, considering this question is valuable and true in some way, and we have no right to throw stones at people whose opinion is somehow different from ours. As each and every individual who dwells on our planet I have my own answer on this question. I dont consider it to be the only true, nor do I reckon it to be suitable for the majority of people in my country. My judgment on the role of the individual in the society is dictated by my social, and, what is even of greater importance, religious background. The specific of my work requires me to be aware of the reasons and principles which guide me in my decision-making process. The thing is that I am a Technology Manager responsible for the technology to support training and content management to our external and internal customers. I am one of the decision makers and I am in direct contact with senior level executives providing input and opinions on decision making. My staff consists of 8 people in which I must manage and provide strong leadership. Thus I feel I have to possess deep understanding of the principles which guide me in my work, in my decision making process, and in my relationships with the colleagues and senior executives. I feel this project can help me to have an insight into my values and beliefs; it is able to assist me in improving my decision-making and leadership skills. The thing is that the values and morals that guide me in my existence are Christian. To be honest, I cannot say that Im a very religious person, but I consider the principles the Christianity offers to be the most sane and suitable for to live decently in our crazy world. Christianity is one of the most widespread religious systems in the USA. The Christians believe in the concept of the existence of one and unique God. "See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me" Deuteronomy 32:39 – says the holy Christian book, the Bible. "He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen." 1 Timothy 6:16 – it continues. Christianity is one of the religions of salvation. It means that in case the adherent of Christianity will live according to the principles and norms depicted in Bible, he will be granted with the eternal life, after the Apocalypse, the last struggle between God and his opponent, Lucifer takes place. The Christians believe that all people that live on the Earth are worthy of love and salvation. Every person has a chance to come to God at any point in his/her life, and if he/she acknowledges the mistakes he/she perpetrated during their lifetime, the God will forgive them, and give them salvation. The Christians try to live according the principles given by our God. We do not kill, do not steal, and try not to lie. Besides, we try to be forgiving, understanding and merciful towards those, who are around us. We try to " hold conformity with the rest of his world, being delighted to show forth the glory of his wisdom in the variety and difference of the creatures, and the glory of his power in ordering all these differences for the preservation and good of the whole; and the glory of his greatness " (Winthrop, 1630). The most important commandments for the contemporary Christian, are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. and the second: Love your neighbor as yourself. The Christians believe that all of the people who live on our planet are worthy of respect and love, despite of their race, social position, or religious beliefs. The Christians try to be just, patient and caring to other people, they try to act according to the moral principles and norms that are left to them by God. We wish good to other people, and we wish they were happy. Lots of people whom I come across during my working hours, and out of my workplace, state they dont like the way the things are in our society. They state that its wrong, when one people have to work long hours doing dirty and unpleasant job, while the others can just enjoy themselves, as they have enough resources for to let them and their children live in luxury. As for me, I agree with John Winthrops opinion on this issue. He began his "Model of Christian Charity" with the words " God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence, hath soe disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poore, some high and eminent in power and dignitie; others mean and in submission." As we read the history books, and religious texts we must note that throughout all of the history of humankind there have been rich people and poor people, the wise and the small-minded ones. Lets note that the phenotypical characteristics of the humans born are also different – some have blue eyes, and fair hair, the others are hazel-eyed and their hair is dark. People are born with different complexion, height, weight and other physical parameters, and for some reason, nobody except for teenage girls is scandalized by this fact. In my opinion, most of people understand, that its almost impossible to change the physical characteristics that were given them by their Creator, thus they feel it is useless to nag on this topic. But the situation with the social position and wealth is different. Almost every person has the possibility to amend his/her financial position, and to reach the higher position in the society. Nevertheless, most of people prefer to stay where they are, in a social and financial position that was left to them from their parents. In the same time this fact doesnt get in their road when they begin to dissertate upon the inequity in the organization of the Universe. I devoted a small section of my work to this question, as the material and social inequity is one of the main arguments my opponents bring when they desire to prove that God doesnt exist, or that he is cruel towards his creations. I sometimes marvel how blind those people are to the world of opportunities that lies in front of them. Our country is the land where everyone whos ready to put time and efforts can provide the decent level of life for himself and his family. In case he is able to put a little brainwork in his labor, his material wealth would be increased proportionally. Unfortunately, lots of people prefer to critique our Creator for the imperfections they see around them, forgetting to look at numerous wonders that God put into our world. Those individuals also often forget that there are people, who experience much more serious problems than they have. They complain on the social and financial inequality they experience, ignoring the fact that the amount of people who were persecuted and murdered because of their low social or financial status is minimal considering to the ones who were discriminated and killed just because they had another complexion. "…. vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; … hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters… the vast majority of … twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society" – wrote Martin Luther King in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. Those are the real reasons for to be concerned, and King and his followers were concerned, and they actually made a shift in the governmental policy towards the Afro-Americans. The opinion exists among people whom I sometimes communicate with, that human beings are divided into two classes – the rich and powerful, and the poor and powerless. If you are in charge of your workers position or salaries, thus you are the powerful one, and your personnel are oppressed by you. This is much like the viewpoint Marx expressed in his Communist Manifesto. " Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other — Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." - he said. In my viewpoint this is an oversimplified vision of the surrounding world. People cannot be divided into two categories basing on whether they have money or not. This attitude is simplistic, and the approach developed by Marx is as a result, simplistic too. This viewpoint is continued and developed by Friedrich Nietzche, who also believed that power is a key to every door. " What is good?--Whatever augments the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself, in man. What is evil?--Whatever springs from weakness. What is happiness?--The feeling that power increases--that resistance is overcome. Not contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue, but efficiency (virtue in the Renaissance sense, virtu, virtue free of moral acid)." The obsession with power guides this German philosopher to the conclusions that seem at least inhumane to most of the contemporary people "The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity" – he says. "And one should help them to it. What is more harmful than any vice?--Practical sympathy for the botched and the weak--Christianity..." The individual should analyze how his/her actions may influence the society he/she dwells in. To perform it, first he/she should be acquainted with the basic principles and laws that exist in there. In talking about the peculiarities of American society we should consider the fact that the USA is the country which is build on Chritian values, as its founders were Christians this is reflected in The Declaration of Independence of the United States. "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of natures God entitle them…" – so wrote the founders of our country when they explained the reasons for separating the United States from the Great Britain. "…all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…" – they continued. Its obvious that the American society is guided by Christian values, as they were stated in the first and the most important document that marked the genesis of the United States of America. The American society is characterized by several principles. The first and one of the most important one is that all people are equal, thus their basic rights are equal altogether. All people have a right to be free, and no person may enslave another one. All of those who live in the United States have equal opportunities. Every person, who works hard enough, should be rewarded accordingly. Of course, there are other ones, but the principles listed are the most important. Considering these facts, the citizen of the American society should analyze his behaviour, and form it in a way for it not to break the main principles listed. An individual should contribute to the society by acting according to the laws and principles that exist there. For the individual, who lives in the USA it would be appropriate to show respect towards all of the other people, regardless of their social status, race, or religious affiliation, and of course, not to prevent them from actualizing their rights and opportunities. There are also traditions that exist in our society that are worthy of following, in case you desire to become a part of it. The first one is that most Americans value their independence, both emotional and financial a lot. In the USA its normal when children do some little jobs for to earn money in their pre teens, and that they are allowed to spend them the way they want it. Teenagers are usually encouraged to get some part-time jobs in the shops or cafés that allow them to provide themselves with pocket money. Most of the Americans, regardless of their age, gender or social class prefer to have some savings in case of the emergencies. It is sometimes that the even being married two people prefer to have separate bank accounts. For many of the U.S dwellers, material wealth is the synonym of freedom. Emotional freedom also plays an important role for those who live in the USA. The child is inured to be independent from a very early age, as even the smallest children usually have their own rooms, in case a family can allow it, of course. They are usually required to clean those rooms, and to maintain order there. It is traditional for many families in the U.S that parents give their children neither financial advice, nor the ones that would help to deal with some social or emotional problems. The kids are taught to deal with their problems by themselves. Thus lots of the Americans feel themselves the only person they can trust or lean on. When discussing the Americans endeavor to the personal freedom we should recall the short story written by a famous American short story writer, Kate Chopin. Her "Story of an Hour" tells about the emotional experience of a woman, who lost her husband. "… she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature… What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being! "Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering ". This excerpt illustrates the attitude of many Americans towards their personal freedom During this course I tried to analyze which of the Christian values I use in making decisions on my working places, and do those values coincide with the principles and norms that exist in the society I dwell in. The entries in my journal showed that the values I use when making decisions and acting sometimes differ from the ones that exist in the society that surrounds me, and, specifically in my working environment. The entries in my journal displayed that sometimes my principles impinged against those of my employees or employers. The first entry in my journal, dated week 6, describes my doubts when hiring a new support person. The thing was that the candidate applied, who didnt have full command of English, but his background and skills were appropriate for to take this position. I was faced with a tough call especially when our company prides our self with giving opportunities. I also struggled from a moral perspective as I didn’t want to discriminate against this person because of his non-American origin. My personal observation was that being a Christian I did not want to discriminate against this person. But I also had to look at it from a business decision and what is best for our company and our customers. The Declaration of Independence states that there should be equal opportunities for all the U.S dwellers, but in making this decision I also had to consider the interests of my company and its customers. One more observation from my journal is the one about the values of my company. Family should come first. The company I work for preaches that to their employees and are very flexible with their schedules, time off and working from home on days you need to. It’s part of the company culture that the employees and their families come first. I agree 100% with the culture of my company, and as a manager encourage it with my employees. I do however have issues when I feel it is being abused or used improperly. At times you are put in a very difficult position as to decisions over business needs or family needs. Should I let the employee leave early or work from home today or should I require them to be in the office to get some work done that we need completed? This is the kind of dillema that has been disturbing me since I took this position. While doing this course it was very interesting for me to observe see how your morals, values and tradition come into play on a daily basis. After completing all of the activities required I understood that the norms and values I use for decision-making are really dictated by my religious background. I understood that before these observations I had been making all of decisions subconsciously. There was something in me that told what was right, and what was wrong. I understood that there were some questions I asked myself when I had to make some decision, for to define what would be the best solution for the existing problem. I feel that it is vital for the successful living in the society, that every person should treat others the way he/she wouldve liked them to treat him/her. I try to follow this principle as close as possible. The decisions I make, and the actions I perform are guided by the desire to perform my task the best way possible for all of the surrounding people to benefit of it. I feel that my role in this world is to make the life of other people a little better, either with my professional performance, or in my personal communicational space. References 1. Chopin, K. (2002). The Story of An Hour. Complete Novels and Stories. Library of America 2. Declaration of Independence. (1776). The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved February 25, 2006 from URL http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm 3. King, M.L, Washington, J.M ed.(1990). A Testament of Hope : The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. HarperSanFrancisco 4. Winthrop, J. (1630). A Modell of Christian Charity. Hanover Historical Texts Project. Retrieved February 25, 2006 from URL http://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html 5. Constitution of the United States. (1787). Macmillan Law Library. Retrieved February 26, 2006 from URL < http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html> 6. Nietzsche, F. Mencken, H.L(tr). (1999). The Anti-Christ. See Sharp Press 7. Marx, K. Engels, F. (1948). Manifesto of the Communist Party. International Publishers 8. Bible. (1995). Cambridge University Press. Read More