What we call “society” is a conglomerate of millions of individuals and the decisions they make in their unique lives. Every decision we make becomes the society we live in. Social responsibility is not something to be shuffled off or left behind for someone else. When you come across a problem, do you fix it? If not, why not? If it is within your power to address the vices of this society we live in, then you are honor bound to do so. If you do not, you have no right to complain so loudly about society, for by recognizing an injustice and then leaving it for someone else to clean up, you are perpetuating a society of apathy and irresponsibility. Society rests on no one else’s shoulders but your own; individual responsibility is key. Do not leave for a stranger what you can address today. Society will not change until you make it change, for you are the underpinnings of the very society you rail against. You make it what it is with every decision you make. If each individual, when faced with an injustice, would take up the reins and make a decision for change, imagine the utopia we would live in.
I don’t mean to say that we should just give more money to charity, feed a homeless person, or plant a tree. While all of those are great, they’re not enough for societal change. Change your habits, change your demeanor, change your attitudes. And yes, when you’re met with something large, a big looming issue that no one else is addressing, do whatever is in your power to help. Social responsibility is yours and always will be, so long as you are one of the millions of individuals who makes up the community in which you live. If we all remembered that, the world would be much better for it.
Always remember, every institution, every charity, every major movement, they all began with just one person. Before change can happen, someone has to recognize the opportunity and act upon it. Why can’t that someone be you?
*tear-eyed*
Yes, but most major charities are inefficient and do little real good and most major movements are later seen to be a mistake and reversed 20 years later leading only to a waste of effort, resources, and time.
As cynical and pessimistic as I’ve gotten these days I have to disagree with Cynic. Martin Luther King, Jr.–still good. Ghandi–still good. Martin Luther–yep, had a good idea (although I suppose, if you’re Catholic, you have a right to disagree on that one, but Catholics disagreed from the start on that one). Reservations–okay, maybe not in their best interest. Still to avoid action by assuming it will eventually be for naught is just an excuse for someone without real conviction.