Broader scope:
Why do we tend to follow the leanings and manifesto of Obama and McCain better than the Manifestos of our leaders?
What does - I don't think I should vote because every candidate that contests in an election is bad and more corrupt, mean?
More myopic level:
How many of us know the ward number that we belong to?
How many of us understand that we belong to one among 145 wards in Bangalore city?
How many of us understand what a ward means?
What does citizenship mean to you and me?
Do we understand the How behind many rudimentary needs of our existence, especially details with respect to local surroundings and needs for ex: do we know who is responsible for garbage disposal?who is responsible for changing the street lights in our locality? the storm water collection drains which are on our roads and we misuse them for disposing waste and assume that its under the BWSSB jurisdiction - do we realise that the water collected out of here is not treated but directly harvested as rain water?
Many such question were asked through the day today and I was embarrassed by my ignorance. I claim to love my country but don't know if I love the Government that I was responsible for electing. I want to act like an 'arm chair critic' and do nothing about the many complaints I have with our governance and with the ignorance that I have towards questions like the above...
Until today, I didn't really think too much about giving more than I can take but when I realised that there are many positives happening around - like say the Central Govt under its Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission has allocated a whopping amount of money to improve my existence I felt like revelation happened. What could I do from a self deterministic perspective to spread the word?...I had volunteered earlier and written many words but did I wait to see if those words impacted or made a difference or did I drift away having done what I could and not looking back...
I slowly started recording my answers - Citizenship to me means collective collaboration which is critical to one's quality of life...this was just a subset as I realised when many friends discussed what it meant to each of us - the scope in itself is enormous its everything to do from the level of self to the globe itself :) No man is an island and the more he builds systems/ecosystems the more responsible he becomes to all that surrounds him. Responsibility is bidirectional and cohesive, one doesn't elect and forget, one elects to engage to improve ones state of existence...
How does one go from a state of being informed to being responsible and active to utilising that information. Shouldn't citizenship permit one's knowledge to translate into action? Action that could make a difference?
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