"Am sick and tired of this traffic." " Have you seen the roads today. They became pathetic after the rains." " Mrs.Das's 20 year old son broke his neck when his bike fell in to a deep crater on the road. He will be bedridden his entire life." "The lights in our road,have not been repaired from ages. I don't feel safe while walking at night." " Can't breathe or walk on road. That garbage dump at the corner of our street stinks."
Sounds heavily familiar? Infact we are all so fed up with these everyday problems, seemingly simple but ignored by the authorities? Why can't they? Aren't we paying taxes? uh! the corrupt politicians! So goes our daily dose of cribbing until you just get fed up and then do what? Give up !
That's the routine ending to our never ending daily rigmarole of cribbing. But what can I do. What will change if I alone go and complain? Why unnecessarily waste my time?
After going through many such inner question- answer sessions, I one day took the call to do something by myself. Some beginning. Some where. And I never regretted it. The journey of social activism. Being aware of the concerns of people around you, your environment and the steps you can take to bring in the change, albeit the push and the pull, the ups and the downs you come across, is quite rewarding to my inner self.
That am not being silent and am doing my bit to do some good for myself, my family and to the people around me. Now that I have taken the first step and a few more steps in to citizen activism, I started to wonder, why others aren't joining in? Its such a simple thing. Take out few minutes( err..can be few hours too) in a week, to make things better for yourself ( added benifit of doing good to others even if it were not intended).
The first surprise when I stepped in to this zone of citizen activism is the realization that I am not alone. Its not crowded but decently filled up. Its such a pleasure to see so many like minded people working for various causes close to their hearts. Any issue, I know these people are there to help me out in real time. I for you and you for me. We for all.
Sure, its not an easy path. But a challenging one. These are the people who faced flak at home for sacrificing their precious little free time for something(social service is the term that's used here sarcastically) and not giving time to family. I must say, over a period of time the family understands and supports, usually.
Citizen activism need not be going on to the streets and staging a hartal. It can be the simplest things like picking up the phone and making that call to the complaint cell of that particular Government department. One single person doing that might not really make any progress. But imagine, with so much population, even in a small locality, out of few thousands living there, if few tens or hundreds make that call for that same problem, why wouldn't that move the authorities? The same applies to even being an example on carrying your own cloth bag for shopping, every single time. About not mixing up waste at home. Or even the simple act of spreading awareness.
When you start questioning and then most importantly, acting on it, you set an example. To your family, to your children, to your neighbors and your colleagues. Your sphere of action grows. The probability of the intended results also becomes high over a period of time. True, the results are not instant. But every action gets added up. Leading to a better life for all(including your family).
It's never too late to take that call to act. Never too early. Age doesn't matter. All that matters is ACT. Just be ACTIVE. Make that one phone call. Drive a kilometer to that one local municipal office. Live a life of satisfaction. That you have done your bit. Give that confidence to those who have really taken it upon themselves, to change status quo, that they are not alone. That is all they want. Your active Support. Be an ACTIVE CITIZEN. One pill for thousand ills.
Sounds heavily familiar? Infact we are all so fed up with these everyday problems, seemingly simple but ignored by the authorities? Why can't they? Aren't we paying taxes? uh! the corrupt politicians! So goes our daily dose of cribbing until you just get fed up and then do what? Give up !
That's the routine ending to our never ending daily rigmarole of cribbing. But what can I do. What will change if I alone go and complain? Why unnecessarily waste my time?
After going through many such inner question- answer sessions, I one day took the call to do something by myself. Some beginning. Some where. And I never regretted it. The journey of social activism. Being aware of the concerns of people around you, your environment and the steps you can take to bring in the change, albeit the push and the pull, the ups and the downs you come across, is quite rewarding to my inner self.
That am not being silent and am doing my bit to do some good for myself, my family and to the people around me. Now that I have taken the first step and a few more steps in to citizen activism, I started to wonder, why others aren't joining in? Its such a simple thing. Take out few minutes( err..can be few hours too) in a week, to make things better for yourself ( added benifit of doing good to others even if it were not intended).
The first surprise when I stepped in to this zone of citizen activism is the realization that I am not alone. Its not crowded but decently filled up. Its such a pleasure to see so many like minded people working for various causes close to their hearts. Any issue, I know these people are there to help me out in real time. I for you and you for me. We for all.
Sure, its not an easy path. But a challenging one. These are the people who faced flak at home for sacrificing their precious little free time for something(social service is the term that's used here sarcastically) and not giving time to family. I must say, over a period of time the family understands and supports, usually.
Citizen activism need not be going on to the streets and staging a hartal. It can be the simplest things like picking up the phone and making that call to the complaint cell of that particular Government department. One single person doing that might not really make any progress. But imagine, with so much population, even in a small locality, out of few thousands living there, if few tens or hundreds make that call for that same problem, why wouldn't that move the authorities? The same applies to even being an example on carrying your own cloth bag for shopping, every single time. About not mixing up waste at home. Or even the simple act of spreading awareness.
When you start questioning and then most importantly, acting on it, you set an example. To your family, to your children, to your neighbors and your colleagues. Your sphere of action grows. The probability of the intended results also becomes high over a period of time. True, the results are not instant. But every action gets added up. Leading to a better life for all(including your family).
It's never too late to take that call to act. Never too early. Age doesn't matter. All that matters is ACT. Just be ACTIVE. Make that one phone call. Drive a kilometer to that one local municipal office. Live a life of satisfaction. That you have done your bit. Give that confidence to those who have really taken it upon themselves, to change status quo, that they are not alone. That is all they want. Your active Support. Be an ACTIVE CITIZEN. One pill for thousand ills.
