Rights and Responsibilities

This last winter semester at BYU, I enrolled in an American Heritage course, and I learned some important principles that I hope I will not soon forget!

The first day of class our professor informed us that this class was a course in civics, and I appreciate the things we were taught throughout the semester.

Our very first course reading was a lecture given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks entitled 'Rights and Responsibilities' wherein Elder Oaks skillfully shows how a society focused on their rights while neglecting their responsibilities leaves a lot of slack in the system and relies heavily on policing to keep its citizens in-line. This "give-me" attitude causes confusion in defining the rights of citizens as opposed to the focusing on our individual responsibilities.

President Kennedy put it this way:

"Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."

I wasn't born when J.F.K. gave this speech, but maybe you were around, or maybe we heard this while in the preexistence because it sounds familiar. It rings with truth.

Let me try to say concisely what I am trying to say:

Debating the boundary where your right infringes on mine will not solve the problems of our nation; rather, when citizens seek to learn and fulfill their civic duty, fewer problems will arise and more of our nation's problems will ultimately solve themselves.

Does that make sense? Let me explain.

Take for instance social issues. While a large majority of people can agree on what is right and what is wrong, the problem comes when people start wondering if individuals have the right to make wrong decisions. They certainly have their agency intact to make decisions, correct or incorrect; it just depends if we, as an extended community, want to condone or punish certain behaviors. Often, when society is indecisive, the supreme court, the most removed branch of our government, will ultimately define and interpret our rights for us.

Ideally, all citizens would do what is right, or at least most of them, and we wouldn't need to rely on others to draw the boundaries on right and wrong. Hopefully, we don't stand idly by, but you and I and our neighbors will teach our children morality. Hopefully, we will shamelessly stand for what we believe makes a "good society", spread the word, attend our caucus meetings, elect virtuous people who will represent our ideals and values, and then seek make that ideal a reality by giving of our time and talents, invoking the power of God, and tending to our civic responsibilities.

This is our hope. We want to continue to highlight what makes our city and our nation great. We hope to increase awareness. It is our hope that each person who comes across something written here will have a heightened sense of their civic responsibilities and feel the need to contribute what they can.