Duties

When I was in primary school all the students had a small book in which our teachers wrote our grades. This book was so important for parents because looking at it they knew what was going on with us. The first few pages had some rules that all students had to follow. One of the chapters was "Duties and Obligations." It was the biggest chapter and the first points were: a student is obligated to learn, a student's duty is to know the national anthem, respect the flag, and honor the national emblem. There were probably 20 more things all students had to follow but I do not remember them any more. The point is that from the very beginning of our life we learned that there are duties that we have to fulfill.

Today there are not duties but only rights. Everybody has a right to do this, to get that, to complain about something else. And I am asking myself: so where are all our duties? If we have only rights without duties that is chaos.

Actually our duties have the same importance as our rights. Only by keeping a balance between them can we truly achieve personal balance. I have the right to freedom in my country but I also have a duty to defend my country. I have the right to educate myself but it is my duty to use this education for the common good. I can go with it on and on. The point is that we cannot exist as a society, as a Church, as a family without duties. I think it is time to start to teach them again.

God gave us life and we have a duty to protect this life. All commandments and teachings in the Bible talk more about our duties in our relationship with God than about our rights. "You shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." It is not a right. It is a duty. As people of God we have a holy duty to love our Creator and our neighbor.

So let's learn about our duties. Maybe then we will understand that a gray wolf is nice but an unborn baby is more important.