The Duties of A Citizen

Our society has come a long way from living in the jungle. It has developed a law of its own. It has grown and formed countries and governments. In due course, all these have provided mankind with social security, peace, prosperity, and privileges to develop his abilities. It has bestowed upon the citizen’s many rights.

However, when talking about rights one must remember that they are not absolute. With rights come duties as well. They are correlative.

Society terms of good citizens those people who are intelligent, possess scientific temper, have self-control, and above all are law abiding dutiful and loyal to the state. Society considers self-interest, and party spirit, secondary to the interests of the nation. It also feels that an ignorant citizen cannot make a dutiful citizen

A citizen’s first duty is to support the government and help maintain peace and order in the society. He must be willing to pay his share of taxes. If need be he must be ready to sacrifice his time, wishes, convenience, and money for the good of the community. During external threats, he must be ready to defend the integrity of the nation with all his might. In peacetime, he should take an active interest in the upliftment of his fellow human being.

The duties of a citizen are very simple. People however find them extremely difficult to follow. It is unfortunate that most of their time is spent fighting for their own rights and about what the state should be doing for them. Our world would have been a better place had its citizens thought more about what they could do for their countries and not what their countries could do for them.