When thinking about the ways in which a model citizen’s character manifests itself, especially during my time in Morocco, I instantly think back to the time I was traversing the span of the Madina, trying to make it back home as the Sun was getting closer to setting. Along my journey from the heart of the Madina to the edge in which I lived, I soon was separated from the group I was with and travelling alone, unsure of how to elicit help in a city that I had seen on multiple occasions to contain those ready to take advantage of the foreigners’ learning curve. As such, I attempted to avoid asking someone to escort me, but rather point me in the right direction. Despite asking this question to a multitude of people on my way back to Batha, I only received two responses: the first was an expressed effort to escort me for an absurdly steep price, hoping the novelty of Morocco’s relatively weak currency would compel me to believe that the price was fair. Such an effort, one that is not nearly proportional to the favor being asked, was not a solely negative experience for me. It also pointed out the simple nobility shown by simply pointing someone in the right direction, giving a few instructions and wishing them on their way. Such a small act is not an enormous demonstration of good citizenship, but it is all that is necessary. Citizenship is not about one person going completely out of their way to walk a helpless wanderer through the city, but rather send them on to the next person who will continue the same simple act of pointing. Such an act held no significance to me before I came to Fez, and saw that such an act that I have taken for granted for is not omnipresent, and instead can be dismissed in favor for acts that serve an individual’s desires to a greater extent. And yes, while such an act and it’s significance may very well be underwhelming, it does teach that engaged citizenship can be very simply and elegantly embodied in the saying “it takes a village.” However, this quote is misleading, for while it does take a village, that does not mean it takes everything from every member of the village. If the village as a whole is conscious and generous enough, then the guiding of a “blind man” to his home requires nothing less than simple courtesy and a small degree of generosity from each person, knowing that the little effort they put in, though seemingly meaningless, will get a man home when combined with the equally small efforts of those in his or her community.

-John Argentino