On Citizenship

[There And Back]

[A draft tome that is placed in the library by Alister Muiris. He returns from time to time to edit it and add additions.]

On Citizenship

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   The question of Citizenship and it’s meaning is one of the most vital to a society. To begin to pursue it however, we must first define why the concept of Citizenship is necessary. This isle provides an excellent illustration. All who have ventured upon it will accept that there will come a time where their skills are not sufficient to insure their survival without the assistance of another. No matter how powerful, an individual truly alone will sooner or latter face a set of circumstances they are unable to handle alone. If nothing else, continuation of a people requires at least two of different genders.
   
   This reality, and the desire to prevent the implied death or destruction of a people is the underlying reason for the existence of a society. The reason that mortals band together into social groups, with all the associated troubles, that allow for the sharing of different skills and abilities.  The question becomes, how is this social group to function? The history of mortal kind is not a gentle one, it has shown that there is darkness in the mortal heart. Whispers, that if not controlled will urge an individual to act without thought towards others around them. Urges the individual to take without thought, to grasp all that they can hold and retain it only for themselves.

Such often happens, and when it grows to extremes you see the society that allows it begin to crumble. For such greed breeds greed, as individuals being taken from isolate themselves from the society they view as unfair and those whom take have fewer and fewer individuals to take from. The larger group, or society, reverts to smaller groupings or individuals with the dire consequences noted above.

   As such, it is clearly unwise to allow this darkness in the mortal heart to remain uncontrolled. The question becomes, how to control such. The answer is a complicated one that has evolved over the time of mortal kind’s existence. In a word, it is Citizenship. The understanding that one owes a duty to one’s society so that said society may continue to function and allow the continued existence of one’s people.

   This understanding is not something that can be instilled by the giving of a token proclaiming “Citizenship”. It as thing that must be instilled over a lifetime, it must be earned. A bone deep understanding that there is darkness in ones heart, a darkness that must be controlled if one’s people are survive. It is task that all will fail at, for to be mortal is to be imperfect. To be bound by limitation. Yet it is a task that all must strive for, accepting their inevitable failure, lest their people crumble.

Signed,
Neophyte Alister Muiris