Citizenship

           What is citizenship? If I was a dictionary, I would tell you that citizenship is simply being a citizen of a nation. But that is not very intriguing, nor is it worth more than a sentence to discuss. In my view, citizenship is when a person is citizen of a state and said citizen cares about the state he lives in, because if a citizen could care less if he was a citizen of what happens to the state then he might as well be a resident from mars.

            One way to care about the state is to get involved in politics, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a politician or a lobbyist. This can be things as small as supporting organizations like meals-on-wheels or voting. While people like Paul Loeb, with his book Soul of a Citizen, may try to convince you that you must part of the organization and dedicate your life fighting “for the good of society,” I think the farthest one truly needs to go is to spread the message further. While there is good argument why one should do more, at the very least spreading the message makes it easier for people to know of the group and decide what they want to do to support, even if it is also spread the word.

            An obvious way to care about the state is to learn about the state. Generally speaking, learning about something brings a better appreciation for that thing. As Adam Conover said on his show “We have the power to learn about the world and improve it.” When you know about a topic, you can’t be fooled by click bait. You’ll also be able to persuade people to your views easier.

            But the best way to change your state is to vote. Voting is the best way to influence change. Every vote for a cause pressure politicians to act. Politicians need your vote to stay in power so if you don’t like a goal or a plan that a candidate has you can keep him out by voting for someone else. So vote for a better future.