People and Society : MOROCCO
Learn morally and cognitively change yourself. This expression might be a precious effective policy that can contribute in changing our society’s situation in many aspects gradually, from bad to good, from good to better, from better to the best, and from the best to a model for some other societies in the world. In the following, I will explain how an individual can contribute to the process of changing in our society based on morals, knowledge and reflection on one’s self-concept. Here, I want to mention another maxim, which is a very crucial pillar for the change that anyone can seek: ‘The “I” includes the whole.’
The topic sentence consists of three important items or rather steps and stages to learn morals, to earn knowledge, and reproduce that knowledge to make change. The second saying or maxim will be developed explicitly in the last paragraph, as it is the core of the change process I’m dealing with.
In terms of Morals, I’m not intending to give advice or lessons on values, as I’m not intending to show anyone what to do, or what not to do. I see that morals are part and parcel in the process of change. No one can deny the fact that many bad behaviors are pervasive in our society. A lot of people lie to each other, gossip about others, and dissemble each other. They are very qualified and well in canting even outwardly; they even, for example, wear clothes that they cannot afford to show others fake images about them.
Morals are the basic values on which a society should be based. By morals, I mean those good values whether utterances or behaviors that one can believe in and use to fuel their everyday life. In our society, the majority of people call these morals: Consciousness or awareness. People use this term when describing the western countries as developed countries and conscious people; or vice versa, they use it negatively when someone does undesirable behavior or says something undesirable.
People in our society admire how the western people are organized and respectful to each other. For example, they like how they get into buses one by one, not all people at once; they appreciate how smoking in public spaces is banned; they like how people listen to others when they are speaking and so on.
All of these previous situations are instances of what I mean by morals. To make it more explicit, I can call them moral awareness and moral manners. Here I do not want to relate this to religions because I know religions have dealt with this.
However, religions tackle morals in an instructive way; that’s to say, religion dictates what to do and what not to do. In addition, it sets rewards for those who behave very well, and promises punishment for the bad guys. Therefore, I think it is already time to do good morals or values not lest of something or for the sake of something. People should believe in that they should run after good values because they believe in them, and not to do bad behaviors because they are merely bad.
For example, I respect others not in order to be respected, but because respect is a good value in itself. I’m not criticizing some religions for associating rewards with values, but I criticize people who understand that they should have rewards for doing something good. Most of people’s actions and behaviors become unfortunately conditioned behaviors. The good reward that one can have by doing something good is that action itself, and vice versa for bad deeds.
People’s cognition has reached a stage in which it can act positively without any positive or negative reinforcement, and choose how to behave. Therefore, if one really wants to change the unsatisfied situation of our society, or even the rest of the world, he or she needs to amend any bad behavior she or he used to do.
Besides morals, Knowledge, or rather science, as it is popularly known in our Moroccan society, is an essential factor in societies throughout the history. No single society can go forward without important schemata of knowledge. There is a huge difference between a society in which people read and search, and a society in which youths read and learn for exams and for having jobs.
According to Kant, to know is to believe. I see that believing can do miracles, and can make everything different. Even the French revolution focused on knowledge that was introduced by philosophers; people believed, after being exposed to knowledge about values (Equality, Fraternity, and Liberty,) in change, and they succeeded in making it.
On the contrary, the recent revolutions of some North African countries did not succeed to reach their entire goals. The reason why they did not succeed lies behind the lack of knowledge. They are illiterate –based- revolutions. They started with screams of people and finished after the complete emotional burst of people.
It is worth mentioning that in Islam, God’s first message to people is “read;” it came in the form of an order. God did not say ‘worship’ or that “I’m the Lord.’ God wanted people to learn/read first, then they can know (to believe) who is the Lord. Knowledge is the basis of anything. Thus, anyone is responsible for his or her own knowledge; they absorb it, and make use of it in relation to the practical world.
Lastly but not least, when a society, no matter how poor it is, has individuals who love to read, learn, and search, it will definitely be a productive society, and, by time, it will overcome most of its problems. To read and learn can happen not only by reading books, but also by looking at other societies out there and picking up the many good values they might seem to carry.
‘The “I” includes the whole’ is the philosophy I follow and believe in. This very small previous saying can make great change in our society, and much knowledge, independence, and confidence can be gained based on this maxim.
With very modest knowledge and experience, I, as anyone in our Moroccan society, notice that a lot of people seek Change. They are not satisfied with the facts of the economic, social, cultural, and educational issues of our country. A lot of people, young people in particular, believe that our society should progress, and our Moroccan life conditions should be better.
But only a few of them seem to take action. How to make this change is a big challenge. However, most of people put the blame on politicians and the government for the lack of the necessities of life, whether in education or health and so on.
To some extent it is not easy to change, but it’s worth trying. For me, and up to this stage, I think that the government of our country has nothing to do with this; what the government can do is very limited, and will not satisfy the majority of people. The big change will merely come from people as individuals. Here I see that change comes from the base. I look at the change from the, smallest unit, individual angle. I think change will come true when each individual concentrates and focuses on his or her own cognitive development.
The “I” includes the whole; the individual is a vessel that contains culture, traditions, beliefs, social and historical aspects, and so forth”. Therefore, for example, while saying MYSELF, I mean an individual who contains society and family. If I do something bad or good, that will affect not only me as a separated and isolated person from others, but me as a social unit.
Here for the change one wants to see, one should first change himself or herself, and be the change he or she wants to see in the world. Before getting into a society, I’m an individual and responsible for my own thoughts and behaviors. When one wants, for example, to get out of his or her home, in the morning, going to school, street or any public place, he or she firstly tries adjusting anything that does not look well. For instance, combing one’s hair, washing one’s face, wearing the best clothes, and even putting some make up on her or his face.
Thus, it is the same thing with mind and the heart. Instead of over caring about appearance, one should evaluate his or her mind; is he or she competent enough to be a sociable person or not. Also, one should make his or her heart fair and clear, and not full of hypocrisy and deception.
Based on individual’s knowledge and morals, people can create a coherent society that is full of respect. In addition, before judging the government for mismanaging our country’s affairs, one should first ask himself or herself if he or she manages well the government of his or her own self. Let us imagine that an individual personality consists of set of ministers just like any government in real life. For example, my personality has the minster of financial matters, social matters, external and internal matters, economic matters, and political matters.
Thus, I, myself, may have 500 DH in my budget, and have nothing to wear to protect myself from the cold. But in spite of that, I buy something that I do not need, such as a ball. Therefore, the minster of my financial matters does not work well. In addition, I may misbehave some people who are around me, so that I need to check with the minster of my external affairs.
Here I should first change myself which is easier than trying to change a group of people, or wait for change to come from above based on some assumed instructions. Learn, change yourself, may be a great policy to change our society situations. It is only the mind that can do the change. But as long as one has the victim mind, he or she will always be slave and subordinated to others, and never be a responsible, free, and productive person. Dividing the society into I’s, our society will go forward. We, Individuals, should help and contribute in doing practically a campaign of “Learn, change yourself.”hercules cave,hercules cave morocco
