The dictionary describes the definition of community as being ‘a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common’.
Therefore, we as a community have certain rules and regulation that we obey to make sure that chaos does not prevail. Herein lies the challenge.
The majority of people who live in a community or who want to live in a community should abide by the laws and measures put in place to ensure that the community functions. We don’t skip through red traffic lights, stop anywhere on the road we like or disobey traffic regulations. We don’t throw litter down and think it is providing jobs.
Why do we feel the need to litter and urinate wherever and whenever the urge takes us? How can we call ourselves a community or even be part of a community with those sort of actions?
When we realise that it starts with us, each one of us taking 100 per cent responsibility for ourselves and our lives, we are then able to understand that we need to obey the rules and regulations that keep us together as a community. When we blame others for our station in life, we are simply being lame.
I get to work with many people, some who are positive about life despite not having much. These people are my inspiration.
In the organisations I belong to, we strive to make a difference every day, as do many other people, but we can only really make a difference when we are all part of the solution and not the problem.
We must be prepared to pay it forward, particularly when we get to help others benefit as well in a community. And so we come back to being part of a community.
So the next time, try stopping at that a red traffic light and remember that five seconds that you thought you saved by going through a red light could take your life or change your life forever. So rather wait for green then proceed, and please think twice about littering, rather find a bin.
If you really cannot wait to relieve yourself or find a toilet, please find a secluded place and go discreetly – that is being part of a community.
Always be mindful that we are only caretakers of this beautiful world, land and country on behalf of our children – all they ask is that we give it to them in a better state than we found it.
How do you think we are doing on that score right now, pretty poorly would be my call.
