How to be an active citizen, a challenge for young people
How can one be an active citizen? In order to become an active citizen, it is essential that the young person knows his rights and obligations as a citizen. Young people can provide solutions and present them to the politicians they govern and in the media.
The mission of a citizen is not simply to comply with the laws, not to disturb his neighbor, to work the indicated hours or to pay his taxes. That is rather the work of what we call "ordinary citizen". A active citizen is one who is committed to society in which he has had to live and has been concerned to know well both their rights and their obligations. As a member of this you have much to contribute to others through different activities.
Know your rights and duties as a citizen
To get to take an active part of society, you have to have initiative and organizational capacity. Today's society requires people with disposition, who set guidelines, committed to some goals ... in short, willing to get wet what it takes to achieve what they have proposed for the benefit of all. To reach this point, it is essential that young people know their rights and obligations as citizens to be aware of the extent to which they influence our daily lives.
To be informed of what happens around us we have many means of communication that also allow us to know the laws and rules that govern society. On the other hand, to know what can be done in the face of these events, the Internet and the competent entities can offer all the necessary information. It should be noted that social participation does not consist solely in demonstrating, complaining and agitating; young people can provide solutions and present them to politicians who govern and in the media, for this it is necessary to get involved in the appropriate platforms.
Critical thinking and debate: keys of an active citizen
The success or failure of the objectives proposed by the active citizen will depend, to a large extent, on the ability to make one's own decisions and influence the others around us to put them in our favor.
A young person committed to society knows that debating is a skill he has to possess to transmit his ideas. You can learn to speak in public and give your opinion in the different associations for young people detached from political parties or in educational institutions. In the universities, for example, more and more debates are incorporated into the classes so that the students learn to have good public speaking, argumentation skills and critical thinking.
To convey ideas and debate them, active citizens have to be previously informed in detail. We must bear in mind that there will always be people who want to give us explanations about our way of thinking to expose theirs, hence the importance of being able to debate, handle concepts and, above all, listen. The debates that we maintain do not have to end like the rosary of the dawn between screams and violent discussions, we can calmly expose our arguments. Debate, after all, is nothing more than weighing the pros and cons in a decision or when defending an opinion.
Teresa Pereda
