What are your rights and duties, and what does your country owe you?

Citizenship means beaing an active, contributing member of society. It is not limited to passports or dirver's licenses- rather it goes beyond the borders of each and every country. As an interconnected and interdependent society, we are citizens of the global community and have a universal duty to pursue our social freedoms, in whichever way it is defined to our respective cultures. As a citizen of France and the European Union, I would expect to be granted certain indelible rights such as the freedom of speech and religion, the right to vote, the right to run for public office and the right to any and all public services such as education, social services, and healthcare, which should be provided government to any citizen who wishes to have public health care. It is the federal state's duty to protect me and to value what I have to offer to the country. In return, I believe it is my responsibility to strive for community well being rather than individual success, even if this means sacrificing some of my values (but never my freedoms) because as a society, we can only progress together and when the individual prioritizes his or herself first, they run the risk of of impeding on the collective growth. I believe it is also my duty to be an informed and educated citizen; one that is aware of basic civil rights and duties and political matters. It is also my duty to exercise my rights of free speech in order to becomea responsive citizen, meaning I should voice my opinion when it is not being hear, not in the interest of selfishness but out of citizenship: to contribute toa more democratic form of government.