The Rights and Responsibilities of Being a Citizen

Watch Sadie from Soulside Out and tell us what you think about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen. Visit us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CCAPMN.

cit·i·zen·ship

cit·i·zen·ship

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary definition of citizenship provides two meanings:

1. The status of being a citizen.
2. a) Membership in a community.
   b) The quality of an individual's response to membership in a community. 

It's the second meaning that we are focusing on and hope to encourage more people to think about.  It's easy to go through life by taking care of our own day-to-day activities without having to worry about anything else.  But is that right? 

Asking this makes me think of the following questions:

• Should we help? 
• How do we help?  
• What help do we give? 

This is where most people think it gets tricky as most people don't think they have the time, energy or resources to help.  But as we develop this project, we are going to show that that isn't the case.  In fact, what you can do doesn't take much in extra time or energy and instead can be thought of as developing new habits. 

So onward and upward.  What are some of the things you do that makes things in your community a little better?

What does it mean to be a citizen?

What does it mean to be a citizen? Most of us are citizens of the United States of America. Others might be citizens of a different country. None-the-less we all have legal citizenship somewhere. However, is having legal papers all it really takes to be a citizen?

When most people think of citizenship they think of their rights. In America, many people will think of the Bill of Rights. It includes freedom of speech, the right to vote, the right to bear arms, and many other rights we get for being citizens of the U.S. Having all of these rights are great, but there is more to being a citizen that people aren't thinking of. There are duties that come along with citizenship too.

We have duties outlined by our country: jury duty, military participation (not a required duty in the U.S.), and the duty to pay taxes. But as citizens we also have the responsibility of giving back. We have the responsibility to work in our communities to make our country a better place to live.

The Community Citizen Awareness Project focuses on the responsibilities of being a citizen. The CCAP is bringing people together who understand their responsibility and are active members within their own communities. We invite you to join our project and talk about your experiences. You can share your story by finding us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

Citizenship may seem like a right, but members of this project understand that it is also a privilege.