An Agent of Contagion
When people perceive the injustices that affect the weak and vulnerable, they detached themselves from them as those injustices do not cause ‘difficulties’ in their lives.
When people notice cars or trucks quickly throwing their garbage on the sides of the road, they do not do anything as it is inconvenient to stop their journey for the sake of ‘wastes’.
When people criticize the government as ‘incompetent,’ they still rely on them to solve the social problems as they continue to advance their self-interests, rather than the common interest.
Despite their communities continually facing challenges every day, people have proven to continue singing the song of individualism over collectivism and live by the “that’s not my problem” mindset. Yet, this ethic, the “not my problem” mentality, breeds more social challenges.
In short, this mindset is the problem.
The sense of sharing responsibility with our leaders to find the panacea for all social maladies has eroded. The culture of careerism has blinded people from the true definition of citizenship — being there for one another.
In times my friends discuss their chosen courses, I ask them to discover their motives — the ‘why’ — behind their decisions and coalesce those motives with their values mainly because I don’t want them to be confused with the paths they’ll take.
Because once this confusion transpires, it may lead them to find answers to ‘gurus’ that enlighten people on how to avoid the 9–5 jobs; to study for 10–12 hours each day; to say NO to everything unless it contributes to their chosen fields.
I worry that the values and principles they embodied will be corrupted by their careers which, all in all, stifles their civic life. It is essential to know that choosing a career should correspond to one’s character and missions in life, not changing your Being for the sake of your ‘chosen’ career. Thus, we should be aware of the traps of the ideologies presented by capitalists, individualists, and advocates of careerism as these are the sources of weakened citizenship in our country.
I believe we are born with dual citizenship, with each having a role to play: the duty for Nature and the duty as a citizen of a State. The latter encourages us to advance our shared interests, rather than self-interest and to build bridges rather than walls across diverse people, like the crystal lattice in Chemistry that connects a ring to another ring to create more networks of bonds.
An act of valor; of magnanimity; of love can ripple into waves of social change and prevent the cultural dogmas from bending one’s civic responsibility — a Butterfly Effect. When one person can defang his/her fears and muster the courage to be an agent of contagion, significant changes will truly seep osmotically across communities.
At present time, I strive to be that person; to be that agent of change. Although I still cannot fully comprehend the systems of my country and cannot bring systemic changes across communities, I aim to become a spark that translates the feelings of my constituents into meaningful actions, which will slowly strengthen the moral fiber of our country.
