KidSpirit

A Communal Spirit

Society and the IndividualGlobal Beat

Any society, no matter how progressive, will find itself stagnated, with its gears stuck and its problems perpetuating, unless it caters to its lowest common denominator. In other words, when a community of people finds itself unable to move up the social and economic ladder, it is almost always because a silent yet invaluable stakeholder was not brought into the fold.

Whether we choose to acknowledge the reality of this concept or not, modern communities today, save for any that are predicated on the principle of survival of the fittest, pivot on collectivized thought and action. Unless everyone is on the same page, not much can be achieved. That which is accomplished is rarely long lasting or well received. One might argue that no society today is purely egalitarian, a truth that is indisputable. Nevertheless, we are all intrinsically reliant on every individual in our communities on a human level, even those we barely know.

We all surrender something personal to which we as individuals are entitled for the sake of a shared communal good, for example, our right to bear arms for personal security. In return, the state collectivizes every individual’s right to security and manifests it in the form of a police force. As a result, everyone relies on each other to hold up their end of the sacrifice in order to keep the gears of society running smoothly. Should even one person choose to take it upon him or herself to bear arms, the entire mechanism is sent into manual override. Similarly, an atom of impatience at the sight of a malfunctioning traffic light can release complete catastrophe at a crossroads. But for the system to continue without the oversight of an inanimate blinking light, cooperation is essential.

A weightier manifestation of this interdependence is elections, the very cornerstone of democratic societies. We all turn to Twitter to put our personal political ideologies into words with the intention of swaying as many others as we possibly can, and if we are more active, we even go door to door engaging in what often becomes impassioned debate. We go to these lengths because we recognize the dangers of the political apathy of even one solitary individual, as afterall, everyone shares the same representative elected into office. In keeping with the spirit of democracy, whether or not this representative is the one of your choice, you entrust him or her with your fate for five whole years simply because your fellow community members thought differently.

Bearing all this mind, would it not be incredible for communal spirit if we valued this interdependence all the time, not just when others’ decisions directly affect ours? If instead of perceiving others as impediments to our materializing our solitary goals we view them as facilitators of a greater and more long-lasting change, society will triumph as a whole.

Minahil Mahmud is an O-Level student from Lahore, Pakistan. She is occasionally in the pursuit of escape through good literature and patiently waits for Gandalf to knock at her door.

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Art by Jaden Flach, Brooklyn

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Art by Jaden Flach, Brooklyn