Our organization has defined a certain set of goals that we are planning to accomplish through various seminars & education as well as other activities that involve direct contact with society members, but also the wider audience. However, we believe that it is important to create as many possible ways as we can to communicate with our community and its members. One way to reach our audience is via blog, which will cover topics of interest and perhaps inspire you to join us or, at least, it will keep you informed and provide you with useful information.
Blog topics will be diverse, but they will always be in line with our organization’s focus and activities. For our first blog, we have decided to write few words about society and community. The main outline is basically about how to understand them and how we feel they should be treated in order for them to serve as a space in which all members will feel comfortable, safe, useful and satisfied. However, we encourage society members not be only passive observers, but active participants in the process of achieving this goal.
The harmony of an organism
The manner in which we take care of the most vulnerable members of our society represents a pretty accurate indicator of the state of our society as a whole. If we compare society with an organism, it is quite clear that every organ, every vein, every atom of that organism has a role that it needs to play in order for that organism to function properly and keep every part of it alive and healthy. A healthy organism has no irrelevant parts, they are all equally important. It may seem that the heart has a bigger role in this system, but the heart cannot survive without numerous other parts that keep it going. The moment a part of an organism fails, or an organ weakens, the whole system is directed to bring it in order as quickly as possible in order to continue its smooth functioning. Also, if we think of the society as one big orchestra, it is very obvious how important each of its member is to the final sound. In the orchestra, each instrument must fit perfectly, otherwise the harmony of the entire orchestra will be disturbed.
Following this analogy, if we agree that society should function as a healthy organism, it is important to understand that it is of a crucial importance to treat those parts of society that have condition that threats the entire structure. We often find that some conditions are chronic, such as those that are difficult to cure overnight, or those that we think have no cure at all. However, we can still focus on what we can do to bring the change that will, ultimately, start curing those chronic conditions and lead to a more stable state of the entire organism.
The cancer of society
One of the cancers of our society is certainly the very image of our society, which often acts as an organism on its deathbed, which we can only observe in the agony of its seemingly endless dying moments or turn our heads because we are no longer able to look at it. However, if we stop pointing our finger at the person next to us, at the system we live in, then maybe we may be able to notice that we ourselves are contributing to the spread of that cancer as well and adding our marks in the process of painting that picture. As much as it is hard to admit, malignant cells multiply every time we call Roma a gypsy, with the aim of classifying him as a lesser being than we ourselves are, or when we know that our neighbor is abusing his or hers child or spouse, but we do nothing “because it doesn’t concern us,” or when we think that a person with special needs is just a burden to this society, without wondering how we ourselves contribute to the well-being of that very society…
There are so many examples of how we contribute to spreading the cancer that one might wonder how it hasn’t metastasized, eaten and destroyed every healthy cell of this organism to which we belong. The answer to this question may still lie in the fact that there are also positive examples. There are individuals, organizations, groups, initiatives … who care very much about their members and the society within which they exist and operate. Maybe they are the kind of chemotherapy that is so essential to this organism called society. However, fortunately, unlike true chemotherapy, this one does not destroy healthy cells but only the diseased ones.
We want to believe that our organization, our motivation and initiative are parts of this chemotherapy, or at least that they will become its part in due time, and as the result, it will spread and expand and become a useful and recognizable cell of that organism. Caring for the vulnerable groups in our society means caring for society as a whole, because these are the parts of the organism that are most strongly affected by cancer. Each of them plays a role, each of them is important and without each of them our organism would be less than what it is. Everyone can learn something from others, so if we want to contribute to our organism, our society and community, then we should become a part of that knowledge exchange, encourage that positive change in society … because, the true value of any society can be find in the way it treats its most vulnerable members ..Mahatma Gandhi said something like this once, if you like quotes.