Words demystified; CIVICS

Very often we are intimidated by certain words that are in their essence very important in our everyday lives. One of these words is Civics. The definition of civics is given by the Merriam Webster as the study of the rights and duties of citizens and how government works. Other dictionaries such as McMillan, Oxford and Cambridge share the same meaning with emphasis on the understanding of the rights and duties of citizens. Perhaps the word citizen has to be demystified again in order to give CIVICS its non-partisan and significance to every Zimbabwean. A citizenship is simply being a member of a society or a state or a country. There are other complicated definitions of the word but we can leave them for later discussions. So anyone who is a member of any country has a need to partake his or her social responsibly (rights and duties) to it.

The rights and duties in any regard, they should promote the wellbeing of every member particularly paying attention to those who are poor, vulnerable and with pronounced disabilities. Upholding one’s commitment to civic values entails subscribing to the value and principle of The Common Good. In simple terms what one does as a citizen of any country should promote the good of everyone – the common good. Jesus gave the same expression in form of a commandment. He said (John 13:34) “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. The Universal Declaration of Human Right in its Article 1 shares the same sentiments that, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.  So a civic society is simply a society that is conscious of and participate in its rights and duties of promoting a just society.


Illustration courtesy of Caritas

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