We were born on the same soil.

We grew up under the same sky.

We have walked different paths carrying the dream of the same country.

But today the question arises – is the society being built as we want it to be?

Right now, the country is on the verge of elections. Winning and losing in elections is natural. Power comes and goes. Positions change. Faces change. But even after the elections are over, one question remains – what did we really win and what did we lose? Tomorrow, won’t we be rejoicing in the ecstasy of winning the election after losing to ourselves? Or haven’t we lost our identity with the election results? An even bigger question – what kind of social consciousness are we creating? What kind of shape is the culture we are embracing on the eve of the elections creating for this country?

Right now, a voice is echoing across the country – change is needed. What kind of change are we in, where change is envisioned, but social consciousness is seen to be in a state of decline. Are we only looking for a change of power? Or are we also discussing the format and form of change? How much are we having a cordial conversation about what kind of situation, what kind of system, and what kind of method we dream of? Is change only enough in power or does it also need to come in our social consciousness and culture? Power may be in the hands of a few people, but our social consciousness and culture are something that lies within us. The faces that run the country keep changing, but the hands that build the country are ours. This time, the hands that vote are also ours.

Watching today's politics sometimes feels like a movie. Attractive dialogues, emotional speeches, stories of heroes and villains, and different scenes that keep changing with every 'cut'. There is a saying about cinema that is popular all over the world - Cinema is a most beautiful illusion in the world. Yes, cinema is a beautiful illusion. Although cinema raises new questions, new ideas, and the vision of a new society in social scenarios, the rise and fall of politics are not the same as the rise and fall of cinema.

When we watch a movie, we walk along with the characters in the movie on their journey. Depending on the scene, we are sometimes thrilled, sometimes sad, and sometimes angry. Cinema certainly creates a new awareness within us, but it is never as easy as changing the real scene.

We may not watch movies, but politics surrounds our lives without us even realizing it. Politics is a reality intertwined with our daily lives. Here, eloquence gets applause, but it does not make policies. Emotions gather crowds, but it does not provide solutions.

When we make politics just a movie, then we become just spectators. Just spectators. We applaud, shout, get angry – but do not take responsibility. It is our duty to hold those we have handed over the keys to power accountable. And, the work of holding the government accountable is done by responsible citizens. Just as responsible filmmakers do the work of making the audience aware and questioning the government.

Right now, politics is starting to look more like a competition of insults than a competition of ideas. The race for honesty has been lost. Morality is in a state of flux. Trust has already been lost and it seems that it is getting itself entangled in isolation. Right now, there is a market of hatred. From social media to public forums, criticism has been replaced by insults and disagreement has been replaced by hatred.

We are hoping that ‘it will be better’, but neither we have considered it necessary to ask ‘how will it be better?’ nor have those who say they will make it necessary to explain it in a way that all the people can understand. Right now, all political parties have made their manifestos public, but we are debating very little about that manifesto in a deep way. We are either humiliating someone or supporting someone blindly. For many of us, even the hoarse song we sing has become melodious. No matter how good something is said by others, it is becoming bad. We are in a position to say that everything is good for us and everything is bad for others. But when we ourselves are questioned, we find ourselves dismissing that question and changing the subject.

We have forgotten by now – our opinions may be different, but we are citizens of the same country. We may cast different votes on the ballot, but we share the same future. We may speak different languages, but we understand the same pain.

Our social consciousness and our culture begin with the real roots of our society. Our language has the first impact on it. Nowadays, whether we are on social media or in meetings or in tea shop chats, the words we use show the direction of our consciousness and our future.

When insults become commonplace, respect becomes weak. When abuse becomes politics, logic disappears. Children learn the same language, youth adopt the same style, and tomorrow's society becomes intolerant. Here a deep question arises for all of us. Playwright Shakespeare has a famous saying – ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’. Today, this question is connected to the life of every citizen.

To be a conscious citizen or just be part of the crowd? To build the country or to blame? To unite or to divide? To find solutions or just to curse? We are all one – this is not a slogan, it is a responsibility. When we stop saying ‘we’ and start saying ‘you-us’, then society starts to fall apart. A broken society is the biggest threat to democracy.

When we consider another person different just because they have different ideas, then the republic becomes weak. Intolerant social consciousness is hollowing out the entire country.

When respect is lost, it is not just the loss of one person. That is the defeat of the entire society. Considering those with different views as enemies is the failure of democracy. The soul of democracy is debate. But that debate should be civilized, responsible, and logical. Abuse and insults can win elections, but in the end, a democratic society loses, a country loses.

We must honestly accept that the leaders are not the only ones to blame for the deterioration of politics. Citizens who do not question, do not seek policies, and do not demand an account of the results are also responsible. We have abandoned logic many times and chosen emotions. We prioritized faces over ideas. The question should have started with ourselves. But for us, only another person, another idea, and another principle remained in the circle of questions. As a result, our question could not be correct.

The change we seek does not come from speeches, but from continuous citizen vigilance.

Change does not come from abuse, but from knowledge.

Change does not come from division, but from unity.

Change does not come from hatred, but from respect.

Being a conscious citizen is not opposing everyone, nor supporting everyone. The courage to say right from wrong and the conscience to say wrong from right is the highest consciousness and civic culture. Being able to listen without prejudice, not speaking without logic, and prioritizing responsibility over emotion is the identity of a conscious citizen. But today we have become such that we have some ready-made insults. And some vocabulary that we have invented. We find the same resentment, insults, and frustration inside us sometimes in the comment box of social media, sometimes in the inbox, exposing our civilization. When our leaders keep insulting us, we are clapping. No matter how bad that insult is, we are supporting it. And that insult is becoming our social consciousness today. Abuse is becoming our culture.

Building a country does not happen in a day. It starts with everyday behavior – how we speak, how we disagree, how we respect different ideas and present them. All these things not only signal change but also institutionalize the change we seek . If we preserve culture today, if we preserve good social consciousness, democracy itself will become stronger .

We may belong to different parties, we may have different ideas, but we are from the same country . We have gone through the same pain, we have the same hope. The country is not the sole property of anyone – it is a common dream of all of us.

Finally, it is time to rise above victory and defeat and think . Election results are temporary, but culture is long-term . We all know that it takes a lot longer to build than to destroy. Similarly, it takes a long time to build social consciousness and we have to work even harder to make it long-term. The language we use today, the behavior we do, and the tolerance we show will build tomorrow's Nepal.