Forum on Civic Responsibility

Today we discussed citizenship: what we define as civic responsibility and the qualities we look for in model citizens. We also talked about the differences between social justice and charity work, two ideas people often have trouble distinguishing from each other. While justice deals with the substance and rules for guiding ordinary, everyday human interactions, charity deals with the spirit of human interactions. Charity is the act of serving people to alleviate an immediate need (such as feeding the homeless), whereas justice is acting to prevent social problems from happening at all (such as lobbying for increased funding to homeless shelters and back-to-work programs).

We also talked about what we thought would make up an ideal society, such as free/affordable health care and housing, cleaner environment, and improved education in public schools. Affordable healthcare was a big concern for most people in the class, as it was number one in every group that spoke of what their ideal society comprised of.

Our last topic was to choose a citizen we thought embodied the qualities of a good citizens. Unsurprisingly, most people chose Oprah Winfrey, as she promotes literacy programs through her "Book of the Month Club". She also supports impoverished communities in poor neighborhoods and in suppressed communities in economically-depressed countries in sub-saharan Africa. One of the biggest surprises was the response of one group: they named our recent Med-Surg teacher as a model citizen.

The lecture was interesting, as it got us thinking how we can serve our community in a manner that suits us. We also saw a very touching slideshow on nursing students helping people in the Dominican Republic with health issues. It's sad that this class will not have the opportunity to visit the Dominican Republic, but I hope we hear about the experience when the next class goes.