How Should I Live in my City?

Before reading this post, check out the previous one first. After reading it, can you guess where I'm from?

In that welcome post to this blog I received two really nice, supportive comments, one from abroad and one from Serbia. Both people thought I was from abroad and they praised my decision to come and live in Belgrade.

This confused me, because I know I mentioned no such thing anywhere in the text - in fact, the opposite is true: I'm from Belgrade and have been living here all my life.

So, what prompted them to conclude this? Any number of things could have influenced their opinion (my name can sound foreign, I'm writing for a blog for foreigners with other contributors from abroad...), but I think I know the biggest influence:

A friend from abroad who's living in Belgrade told me that since he came here he's been a very keen citizen, so to speak. He immediately started looking around, seeing the sights and also trying to contribute in various ways to the city that is now his home. At the same time, he tells me that when it comes to his home country, he's nowhere near as enthusiastic or motivated - he hasn't visited some of the major sights that people from across the entire world come to see. He also says that a lot of the foreigners who live here also want to be involved, to contribute in some small way at least.

Simply put, what I wrote in that first post is something that I guess you would more likely expect to hear from a foreigner than from a native.

Though I've never lived abroad, I can see why someone would want to be such an active citizen in a foreign country. And yet, at the same time, I don't understand why oftentimes we don't have such an active stance towards our own city. In fact, I think that, more often than not, we feel like we are owed something - a larger salary, better public transport, more benches in parks...

Now, we can argue whether we really are owed something or not, but regardless of the conclusion, the outcome of such a perspective is the same: we become passive, cynic, half-asleep - we neither contribute nor enjoy ourselves nowhere near as much as we could. And in turn, the city from which we expect so much will fail to provide and grow.

Lately I've been starting to believe more and more firmly that it is us who are indebted to our own city. For all its shortcomings, we have, for starters, roofs over our heads and food in our bellies, and then not to mention widespread internet access, clubs, cinemas, theater, dance, sports... In short, one way or another, a network of thousands of people, from bakers to teachers, have given their small but oh so important contribution so that you and I are, quite literally, alive today.

So, you don't have to like where you live. If you want to move, by all means try to do so. But, if we choose to live somewhere, then that place becomes our home, which we share with thousands and millions of Others. All of them are giving a little something to the city, and we receive so much of that giving - a lot more than we could ever give back, I think.

So, how can we not contribute? Not only is it our responsibility to do so, but it will also make both our own and the lives of Others more productive, fulfilling, happier...

It doesn't matter and it's no excuse whether someone else will contribute or not. There will always be better and worse people than us, as well as better and worse places to live. The only thing that matters is our own attitude, here and now. If we do well, Others will follow.