The history of human struggle has been a relentless pursuit of freedom-from national independence movements, including India’s own, to the fight for individual liberties. Yet, history rarely records protests where people demand more duties to perform; nor does anyone expect them to. The contemporary tragedy lies in this: while we vociferously demand our rights and freedoms, we barely whisper about our duties and responsibilities. In this sense, our society is like a leaning tower, tilting dangerously toward the side of “rights” alone. A society that leans only in one direction is destined to fall. The signs of this collapse are already written in blood and tears across our social fabric; the only question is whether we are willing to read them.
Take, for instance, the fact that nearly four thousand people are killed in road accidents in Kerala every year. This is no small number. To a stranger, each accident is just a snippet of news, but the gravity of the statistics is felt only when tragedy arrives at one’s own doorstep, shrouded in white. Our roads become paths of death when people fiercely demand their rights on the public way while completely abandoning their duties as responsible drivers or pedestrians. We must loudly proclaim, and listen to the fact, that balance between rights and duties is essential in every sphere of life.
Freedom that oversteps duties
There is no freedom without duty, just as there are no rights without responsibilities. The “bird of freedom” can only soar within the atmosphere bounded by duty; beyond those limits, the bird will tire and plummet. This is a universal principle. When India gained political independence, it inherited the duty of self-governance. The freedom to bring a child into the world carries the responsibility of fatherhood. One who receives a license to carry a gun must accept the duty to prevent harm. A person granted the freedom to treat the sick is bound by the responsibility not to kill.
A society that misuses freedom must pay the price. In a society with the freedom to eat whatever they like, people are dying not of starvation, but of complications from obesity. In a society that saves time to rest after office work, health problems stemming from physical inactivity are rising. In Kerala, where the freedom to protest is celebrated, many strikes have resulted in the closing of factories rather than the opening of new ones. The freedom granted by mobile phones has turned our privacy into an open book, not only can anyone read it, but anyone can deface it.
Some misunderstand “freedom of expression” as the right to say anything about anyone. The freedom granted by law to the media is, in horrifying instances, degrading into “media hunting.” There are those who interpret the freedom to propagate their religion as a right to eliminate other faiths through political power and terrorism. The examples are disheartening. We are witnessing a world where people become victims of their own rights and freedoms. This is a form of cultural suicide.
A Picture Painted by Many
Shouting for rights while remaining silent about duties is a culture rooted in human selfishness. Working half-heartedly during duty hours but stretching out one’s hand greedily for wages is the ugly face of this culture. This is not just an issue of individual civic sense; it is about shaping a mature society. It is harder to rewrite the destiny of a culture stuck in a one-sided sense of freedom than it is for ten people with different interests to draw a single picture of an elephant. To prepare individuals and societies for this shift, we must embrace a few fundamental realizations:
1. We must find the roots of this one-sided rights-consciousness.
It exists even in our culture and religious life. For example, our prayers often take the form of a beggar’s bowl; the focus is on what we can get from God. Even our spirituality becomes a strategy for acquisition. We focus on the blessings we should receive while ignoring what we owe to the Divine-worship, praise, and thanksgiving. We must tell ourselves that there is a greater value in giving than in receiving. The comforts and culture we enjoy today were built by those who gave-their labor, contributions, money, lives, and very souls. Those who merely sat on their rights, eating and sleeping, have left nothing behind. Time, with its merciless hands, quickly erases their names from history. There are those who celebrate life by grabbing power and wealth, but they begin to decay even while they are alive. Those who gave must be remembered; the selfless must be praised. The history of the Church and the world bears witness to this. Even in the present, such individuals should be our heroes.
2. “Other-centeredness” (altruism) must be regarded as a paramount value.
Although we often say the world has become a global village, many people remain “cave dwellers” at heart. They haven’t emerged from an ancient cave-culture; they live and die within the caves of their own families, friend circles, online groups, and vested-interest cliques. To them, no world exists beyond that cave. We must realize what a massive “other-centered project” the Gospel proposes. St. Paul, who said we are called to freedom, clarified that this freedom is for serving one another (Galatians 5:13). Jesus’ command was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (Mark 16:15). This means for one who accepts the Gospel, the only boundaries are the ends of the earth-no barriers of caste, religion, language, or race. It is in proclaiming this “other-centeredness” that a society respecting everyone is formed. Only they can truly say, Fratelli Tutti (All are brothers).
3. The act of sharing.
Where individualism is strong, there is nothing to share and no platform to do so. A society that once lived by sharing food, belongings, facilities, and living spaces has shifted toward extreme individualism. We see people driving on the road as if they own the entire highway. This attitude exists in every field. We must think of ways to increase the spirit of sharing even within our homes.
It is in a “mature society” that duties are respected alongside rights. We need such social models. Local Christian churches should serve as examples of such mature societies, standing tall as a beacon. The Church fulfills its evangelical mission when the world can learn from it. We cannot argue for a transformation in the world if we cannot first achieve it within the Church
Rev. Dr. Mathew Illathuparambil
