Last week, I was listening to the radio. I was tuned in to a particular station that plays old songs which I’m guessing were from the 60s to 80s. I would know if there was any song from the 90s since that’s my childhood years. Anyway, one song caught my attention. It was Eagle’s “Love will keep us alive”. The tune was very calming and almost got me sleepy until I heard the line when we’re hungry, love will keep us alive. That line could have meant something else to the artists but I can’t help thinking that the line captures exactly why some families now are headed by teenage parents. Many young people enter into parenthood without considering what life they’d be able to give their future children. Assuming “love” is what drove these young parents to raise their own families, I don’t think love alone could help them get through the challenge they have entered into. What social settings will their kids be pushed into when they enter this world?
I remember one of the topics discussed in GLOBDEV (Global Development) was the distinction of a household from a family, and how they affect global politics. Prior to this, social and liberal individuals were also explained as they were defined by Tetreault and Lipschutz in their book “GLOBAL POLITICS as if PEOPLE MATTERED”. According to these authors, a liberal individual is a person who depends on the state and to whom obligations, rights, duties and liabilities are manifested through legal documents. On the other hand, a social individual is one who constitute the society and one who was born and socialized into relationships. Furthermore, these individuals make up groups bound by biology, law, norms and customs, or simply by the economy of production and ecology of reproduction (The former being a family and the latter being a household). A family is functionally organized to enable survival and NURTURE children. In the same way, a household works according to rules, roles, and culture. While a family may constitute a household, a household is not always made up of a family.
A household is considered the fundamental unit of society. Every individual has a predetermined social setting. Given all these, I believe it is the duty of parents to register their children as citizens of the state in order to avail them of the rights a citizen/liberal individual is entitled to. Another duty of parents is to make sure their future children would grow up in the most ideal set of social factors that may affect who they become. By social factors, I mean education, social class, family set-up, religious institution, etc. How many of the teenage parents’ kids are registered to the state? How many of them go to school? How many of them still live with both of their parents?
Some may argue however, that they themselves were forced into a harsh social setting. Does this pass as an excuse? Well, even I would agree that certain situations limit our freedom to successfully change our fate. Now, does the responsibility of ensuring a good future for the youth end with their parents? I guess not. We are all connected to one another, intertwined by an immense social web. Like the old Filipino song says: “Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang... tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa’t isa.” (Nobody lives for himself alone…we are all responsible to one another.) The government is also bound by their social contract with the citizens to ensure the best quality of life for them. After all, the government is tasked to handle the economy of the state. The word economy was derived from the greek words “oiko” and “nomos” which, when put together, means “management of households”.
It is however sad to note that in some instances, parents lack the education to handle their children’s future well. In some other situations, it is the government who don’t work competently for the task the people entrusted to them. Is there anyone else who could help a person better than himself? In our present world, we could not rely on others to help us reach our goals, just like states can’t rely on other states for protection. Even when treaties are made between states, how many of these are really followed during desperate times?
In this self-help world, I guess Jean-Paul Sartre’s statement proves true “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
source:
Tetreault, M. L. (2009). Global politics: As if people mattered. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
