Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
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.
Friday, July 1, 2011
What does it feel like to be free?
The feeling of being free is exquisite, sublime, and irreplaceable.
It is flight.
Liberation.
Awakening.
The feeling of being free is joyous, wondrous and well, humbling too: as they say, freedom isn't free.
I know this feeling because I live it, to say I don't would be selfish. To say I don't would be an insult to all those who have fought for my freedom. I am free because no one controls my mind. I am allowed to have all the thoughts I please and let my imagination travel to places that enchant me, surprise me, scare me but dare me to go further.
No one can stop that.
There are no shackles on my mind and
that's what makes me free.
I am free because I live in a country wherein my opinion will not only be heard, but respected too and if I am lucky, will be taken to.
I am free in all sorts of ways, many of which I must not even know.
But I can tell you that being free,
that feeling of gliding on air
in sync,
in perfect synergy with those around you,
has no substitute.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Memory
If I cried loud enough, they would take me out of bed. That's the preface to my first memory. As an easily frightened 3 year old, nighttime existed as a never-ending terror of 'what if I'm kidnapped?', 'what if we're robbed?', 'what if the house catches on fire?'
My parents, both teachers, knew just how to solve this problem. At 9:55pm Mom picked me up and held me close to her while she rocked in the recliner 'til my sobs stopped. E.R. came on at 10pm as my first memory begins. The jarring theme song grabs my attention. I turn away from my mother's chest and see the doctors walking through the door.
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