Our Responsibility to Our Community: the Power of an Individual

What comes to mind when you think about civic commitment?

To put it simply, I would say that civic commitment is the responsibility of citizens to make a difference in their community, whether this is local, state, national, or global. This idea of committing oneself to ensuring the prosperity of our community is intriguing.

My knowledge of civic commitment was broadened when I attended a summit through my university that focused on motivating students to become leaders in their community and find ways to impact our world through humanitarian, global, local, and public policy efforts. 

I learned that civic commitment is all about motivating citizens to be more than just the average resident. It’s about eliminating apathy and putting these great ideas into actions.

There seems to be a stigma that great ideas are just ideas, and very rarely do these ideas actually turn into something greater. We have a tendency to believe that only people with power can actually make change in the world.

Well, that just isn’t true.

When you evaluate things, a person with a great deal of power is nothing without other people who support them. A politician is nothing without voters. A dictator is nothing without an army. Even the leading activists and advocators get their voice heard when there are many voices behind them shouting the same thing.

The moment a person in power loses their support, they crumble. That makes the power of an individual greater than one might think.

We have a responsibility to our community to be educated, responsible citizens so that when that person who has power is corrupt or headed in the wrong direction, we have the tools to stop that from happening.

This is what civic commitment touches upon. To ensure the safety and health of our community, we have to make sure that we are letting the right people lead us in that direction.

But the power of an individual doesn’t stop there. When an individual finds a passion and makes an effort to transform that passion to action, there’s no stopping them.

Our own opinions and beliefs are very influential motivators. Nothing irks us more than when someone attacks our stance on an issue. We live in a democratic country that is chock full of debate (and perhaps lack of cooperation when it comes to giving up our position on an issue).

That makes our passion our number one motivator. And when we find other people who share the passion and goals and work with them to get a result…that’s when the change starts to really happen.

There are a lot of things around us that need to change. The efforts of the Occupy movement demonstrate this, and while at times the effort may have too many directions and voices shouting different things, it is still clear that people are fed up with things.

We all have a passion, or something that we think should change. For me, I want to see certain aspects of education reformed. Before the summit I had decided that I couldn’t really make a change until I had a college degree and was working. I left the summit with the feeling that while I may still be learning, I had the power to make others aware of the issue.

So think about your passion or what you want to change. I know that it’s easier to complain and point fingers, but committing yourself to improving your community doesn’t mean that you have to lead protests or change laws.

But it does mean that you need to educate yourself and think. Think about the issues. Think about electing a person, not a party. Think about what we need versus what we want.