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The Analects Of Confucius And The Seneca Falls Declaration

Decent Essays

Being an engaged citizen has had a huge impact on developing civilizations over the years because of the influence large groups of people have. Arguably the most important parts of being the ideal engaged citizen are education, ethics, and being an active part within the community. There are other traits as well but none that are as key as these three. Two famous documents that express these ideas are the Analects of Confucius and the Seneca Falls Declaration. Education has played different roles through the years. When the government system was first brought together only an educated free men could take part in any government related issues. Confucious says, “Study without thought is a waste of time; thought without study is dangerous”. …show more content…

A quote from Confucius that demonstrates this is “If the government seeks to rule by decrees and the threat of punishment, the people will have no sense of shame; but if they are governed by virtue and a sense of propriety, they will feel shame and seek to behave correctly”. People essentially are pack animals, they will mimic the behavior that is shown to them. If they are only shown how to be cruel and to use unethical ways to get what they want, then that is how they will behave. Yet if one uses their judgment and are kind to people, they will be looked up to in their community, and others will follow along in their step. If the community was run by people with ill placed morals then small businesses and community services wouldn’t be such a prominent thing. Everyone would only look out for themselves and the community would collapse in on itself. One proverb that further demonstrates this is “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”. Loosely meaning by being a good person more people will follow along then if one is seen as a bad …show more content…

The ladies of Seneca Falls, NY demonstrate this well. They came together to create a whole declaration because they weren’t being allowed to use their inalienable rights to take part in their community. These women were being forced to follow rules made by men. Saying men were equal to men yet not to woman. These women saw that only men were treated as equals, and that even foreigners with no knowledge of the new government they were in, were given rights that women were not. So their declaration states “He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men both natives and foreigners.”. They brought up the question, why should anyone listen to laws in which they aren’t allowed to have any say in. Proving that being able to take part in community is a big deal when it comes to being an engaged

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