Citizenship is a word that gets thrown around a lot.

The first time

I remember hearing the word was in a song. In a song about the pledge
of allegiance, Lee Greenwood says its a pledge to fulfill our duties
and obligations as citizens of the United States. My five year-old self
did not understand what citizenship was, but I knew it sounded
important.
As discussed in class, citizenship is one of those words that is
hard to define. I see it as a state of belonging to a nation as well as a
smaller, local community. Being a citizen affords you certain rights and
privileges, as well as certain duties. We are all citizens of two different
groups, citizens of a nation, and citizens of humanity. Some of the
rights and privileges of the first group are the responsibility of the
state, but I believe that being as citizens of humanity, we all have a
responsibility to making sure the rights and privileges of others are
met.
There are many similarities between the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the USCIS list of rights. They both are discussing a
quality of life, of which the basis is the freedom. For the United States,
this is the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, while for the UN it is the life, liberty, and security of
person. The US is more focused on personal freedoms such as
expression, voting, and religion. While the UN includes these as well, it
seems to be more focused on more basic aspects of life such as

marriage, fair trials, slavery, and jobs. I think the USs list of rights is
more a reflection of the country as it is now, and the UNs list is more
of a hope for the future that we have not quite reached.
Living out most of the USs ideas of rights and responsibility does
not require much of us. Respect others opinions, vote when needed,
show up for jury duty, and pay your taxes. Our day-to-day lives do not
change much. Participating in the community is where it begins to
overlap with the UNs ideas. In every community there are people who
according to US rights are doing just fine, but are being denied other,
more basic human rights, such as an adequate standard of living,
equal pay, special care and assistance for mothers and children. The
lack of these rights leads to poverty and crime.
It would be nice and easy if the government just took care of all
of that for us, but realistically that will not happen. It is our jobs as
citizens to help our fellow man. That could be as simple as donating
food to a food bank, volunteering time at a shelter, or helping out a
neighbor struggling to make rent. We do not always have to the time or
money to do big things, but a lot of little things done daily can make a
big difference.