Today we live in an age of human rights. It is the time when every segment of society insists that its rights be recognized and protected.
For instance, the LGBTQ community advocates that marriage be redefined to include same-sex marriage, and that they be assigned a bathroom of their own. The more audacious groups like Kadamay demands free housing, and more. Erring students and their parents invoke their rights under the Child Protection Policy to avoid punishment. In Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected Seascape Tañon Strait v. Sec. Angelo Reyes, it was even argued that marine mammals−toothed whales, dolphins, and other cetacean species−have “the right to sue for the faithful performance of international and municipal environmental laws created in their favor and for their benefit.”
Not that it’s a bad thing to speak of the language of rights. But too much attention on human rights hinders us from focusing on the other equally important side of the same coin: human duties.
One school of thought holds that we have rights because we have duties. Rights proceed from duties, which are based on natural or positive law and contracts. As Mohandas Gandhi once wrote, “all rights to be deserved and preserved came from duty well done.” And in Auguste Comte’s simplest formulation, “there is only one right, and that is to do our duty.”
Thus, a bank has the right to engage in banking business for as long as it observes extraordinary diligence in handling its clients’ money. One also has the right to operate public transportation only if one assumes the duty to transport passengers with extraordinary care.
The same tenet applies to human relations. We live in a diverse society where people believe in different gods, eat different foods, wear different clothes, and observe different cultures. Given that backdrop, imagine how chaotic our society would be if everyone insists on exercising his personal freedom without regard to others.
Anyone who has ridden an airplane knows how strictly regulated is the passenger’s conduct inside the aircraft. Before take-off, passengers are required to fasten their seatbelts, keep the window cover up, stow their belongings properly, and turn off electronic gadgets. During the flight, passengers are not allowed to converge in one place or smoke in the lavatory. And the moment the airplane hits the tarmac, passengers are not yet allowed to get their belongings until the airplane completely stops. All that is to make the flight safe.
Citizenship is like riding an airplane. If we want to enjoy the ride and reach our destination in one piece, we are duty-bound to fasten our seatbelt.
It is thus for our own sake that we observe our duties to our fellowmen.
