On Duties...

My father was born in 1954 in a village near the city of Rasht in the northern part of Iran - close to the Caspian Sea. His father had two jobs: He worked as an employee in a state run office and - as his salary was not enough to take care of the family - he owned a bunch of cows from which they would receive milk to sell.

From the age of four (not fourteen, but four) my dad had to support his parents so that as a family they could survive. My dad's duties included the following:

• Wake up at 4 - 5 in the morning and take the cows to a meadow about 2-3 km from their home so that the cattle could eat and bring them back home in the evening
• Help his mom to milk the cows
• Sell the milk or the yogurt his mom had made
• A bunch of other smaller things like taking care of his younger siblings

It was instilled in him that he - and his siblings - played an important role in making ends meet for their family. And on top, he knew that the only way for him to have a better life was to excel in school.

He learned about work ethic and duties early on in his life... and this work ethic combined with a sense of duty were definitely the driving forces of his success later on and his ability to deal with all sorts of change.

When I was in elementary school, both of my parents were studying again as their engineering degrees from Iran were not acknowledged in Germany. This meant that as a family we did not have a lot of money and my parents did not have a lot of time.

So I - as the oldest child - had to help out. It was my duty to take care of my younger sister including picking her up from kindergarten, to do grocery shopping after school, and to get bread from our bakery across the street.

I do not remember ever complaining to my parents that I had this duties... my parents had instilled in me that I - similar to them - played a role in our family's success. Although none of my friends had similar duties, I did not feel that I was at a disadvantage... I actually felt a sense of pride delivering on my duties and I feel that pride to this day.

There have been many occasions in which my mom shared with me that she could not have had the career she would ultimately have if I - and later my sister - would not have chipped in from an early age. She knew that she could rely on us not only doing great at school, but also fulfilling our other duties.

Now, why do I speak of duties and not jobs?

A job or a chore is something one does to check it off a list. A duty - being a legal or moral responsibility - is something one does with more passion, precision, and pride.

Knowing that me doing grocery shopping as a six-year old contributed to my family's survival and later success, I knew the price of every item I had to buy at various retailers e.g. I knew that tomatoes where a few cents cheaper in one store and I would walk the extra mile to make sure we saved that money. I took and still take pride in that...

Having a sense of duty (in German we would say Pflichtbewusstsein) has gone out of fashion. We barely hear people speaking about duties and if they do - at least in Germany - duties have a negative connotation.

Somehow it has been established that duties stay in the way of a life well lived and that life should be all about joy and happiness.

I am not against joy and happiness... I believe that our duties help us achieve true joy and lasting happiness. The quote below summarizes this quite well.

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was duty. I worked — and behold, duty was joy.” — Rabindranath Tagore

Understanding our duties and delivering on them to the best of of our abilities will help us grow... and that growth results in joy. That growth expands our horizon, that growth fosters our sense of adventure, that growth prepares us for our next set of duties.

Tragically, many people have completely lost their sense of duty... they believe a life well lived is one in which we work as little as possible and instead spend as much time as possible doing other things.

Unfortunately very few of the people that do work less, spend more time doing good stuff. They do not necessarily spend more time with their kids... many people decide to not have kids at all. They do not spend more time on their health... they do not eat better, work out more, or sleep more. They do not spend time doing more for society. The list goes on.

Most of that time is spent on stuff that might result in a quick release of dopamine, but not lasting joy and certainly not growth. Most of that time is spent in front of screens consuming mediocre content and playing mediocre games.

The other trap many people fall into is the concept of IKIGAI - see image below.

In general, this is a great concept as it lays out that a life well lived is not about the amount of money we make but also about doing things that we are good at (our talents), things we love, and things the world needs.

Unfortunately, the "things the world needs" is in many cases considered as market opportunities and not necessarily societal duties that we all have... the concept does not include our duties at all.

Our duties to take care of our kids and our aging parents. Our duties to be good citizens. Our duties to do our job well. Our duties to take care of ourselves.

I believe that as conscious and enlightened human beings that want to be part of a liberal democratic society, we have to uphold our duties. We have to make sure that we think more in duties and not in jobs.

When we enter a legal contract with our employer or our employee we have duties. It is the duty of the employee to the job to the best of their abilities, with care and with precision. It is the duty of the employer to provide an environment in which this is possible and to foster the employee's growth.

One side not fulfilling their duties does not justify the other side also neglecting their duties.

Delivering on our duties are not transactions... delivering on our duties are things we do for ourselves so that we can feel that sense of pride and that we drive society forward in a way that we believe our society should be.

We need to redevelop that sense of duty... we need to ensure that the next generation learns about the importance of duties for society and themselves. They need to understand that duties do not stand in their way of living a good life, but that duties are a major component of a good life.

The only way to do that is to lead by example. This means we have to be clear on our duties. We need to deliver on our duties. We need to share the pride we feel when we fulfill our duties.

Culturally we are - at least in Germany - moving in the opposite direction. Just yesterday I came across this frightening statistic:

How can we in Germany have more than twice the number of sick days compared to other very social countries like Sweden and Denmark. How can we have 60% more sick days than our neighbours in Austria or the Netherlands?

When I posted this image many people "attacked" me for having the wrong picture of people. For them, it is unthinkable that people would pretend to be sick to skip work. Yet as a medical doctor I have seen first hand that almost 50% of people - if not more - that ask for their doctor to declare them sick are in perfect shape to get to work.

Looking at the comparison to other countries is especially sobering because now one can really see that the German numbers are way too high. We either believe that people in Germany are weaker and thus sick more often compared to others or that they just do not follow through on their duty to get to work.

As we all know Germans are not weaker than Austrians, Dutch, Danes or Swedes... so it means that they just call in sick more often and for less severe things... which also is in line with the daily reality of every single doctor in Germany.

What does this mean for society? It is a disaster!

We already have a lack of skilled workers. Now a huge number of these people pretends to be sick and misses out on work? Who pays for that? We all do... We all pay for that today and we pay for that in the future as we as a society lose our ability to compete.

And that mindset is like a virus... it spreads from one person to the next creating a culture where people forget about the basic laws of how societies prosper. Prosperity (probably a topic for a future article) is the result of people working i.e. using their energy to create something of value.

It is no surprise that our economy is not growing, that our prosperity is in serious danger, and that people are moving towards the right-wing parties that offer "simple" solutions.

Everyone has to question themselves and how they are contributing to a functional society... and it starts by following through on our legal duties incl. our work contracts.

Imagine an employer breaking that contract by only paying 80% of the agreed salary. It is unimaginable... at least I have never seen this happen.

But if people miss out 25 days a year - this is five weeks in addition to six weeks of vacation - due to being sick, they are missing out on more than 10% of their working time. How can this be right? How can we - especially comparing ourselves to other countries - be OK with that?

This statistic is just one of many symptoms of a society forgetting about its duties and the value that duties have for society and for every single individual.

Personally, I do not believe we have been put on this planet to consume... I believe we are here to create. Each and everyone of us has one or multiple duties to fulfill in order for the human race to prosper and live in harmony with each other, our beautiful planet, and everything that we might encounter in the future.

Understanding and fulfilling our duties is a crucial aspect for us to grow, to find joy, and to contribute to other's wellbeing.