Life Transition: Human Rights

As Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” And Bob Marley: “Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.”

Like Edward Snowden says, “Privacy is the foundation of all other rights. Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like arguing that you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”

Human rights and mutual respect are first learned at home and at school - though often they are instead trampled by dogmatic and intolerant parents and teachers, suppressive rules and bullying. And then that carries into the workplace and society.

But as Pancho Villa said, “There can never be peace in a world where one man has his belly full and another man is starving.”

When you have nothing more to lose, when the old ways have arrived at a brick wall, it provides a kind of freedom: a period when you can finally afford to change, to look at things completely afresh, and indeed transform your life for the better. You don't have to identify with the past any longer. Instead, share your thoughts and work with others to take back your rights and realize your own ability to make powerful choices about who you are and how you live.

We are witnessing the emergence of a post-terror generation, one that rejects a worldview defined by a singular tragedy. For the first time since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we see the outline of a politics that turns away from reaction and fear in favor of resilience and reason. As a society, we rediscover that the value of a right is not in what it hides, but in what it protects. Continues...

It should come as no surprise to anyone that there is a great deal of injustice in our world; essentially everything is not as it should be; we humans do not act as we should. This is in our nature, according to philosophers and tyrants; our nature is to be narrow-minded and apathetic. But I for one do not believe that these actions are coded into every person. Granted, the potential for every person to be selfish is certainly there, as are the kernels of greed, corruption, etc. However, it need not be this way, and it certainly should not be, if we wish to have any hope of survival (and freedom, god forbid). Continues...

This article analyzes the WTC tragedy and attempts to answer the crucial questions: How did we drift into this situation over a period of fifty or more years? What will happen if we don't deal with the root causes of the mess? What can we do to fix things (apart from fighting a war)? Continues...

Current events have demonstrated a tremendous desire on the behalf of perhaps the majority of people in the world for peace in their lives. They are no longer satisfied with the mentality of political conflict, which endangers economic progress and human rights and freedoms. But most importantly, I feel that many people are now aware that if we want peace in the world, first we need to make peace with our own lives. It's human nature that needs to change, and we are capable of making such a transformation. Continues...