This is an essay I wrote for admission to a Masonic lodge.
Opinions
differ about what human rights are.
The
UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was championed by Eleanor
Roosevelt, has 30 articles.
The
Declaration of Independence famous statement that “all men are endowed by their
creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness” has been the sacred statement of human rights for
Americans since 1776.
The rallying cry
of the French Revolution was “Liberte`, Egalite`, Fraternite`” or “Liberty,
Equality, Brotherhood.”
Exactly what
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness or Liberty, Equality, and
Brotherhood mean has been the subject of debate ever since 1776.
Do rights mean that one’s life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness should eclipse other’s pursuits?
What is exactly the amount of life, liberty, happiness
and equality that is sufficient for humanity?
This debate is an important one to have and is one that could never be
fully resolved as new situations arise and as knowledge of the human condition
improves.
Definitions
of what human are can be boiled down to basic principles just as Jesus states
that all the laws of Moses can be boiled down to two phrases: “Love God with
your whole heart, whole mind and whole soul and love your neighbor as
yourself.” For me the question of human
rights boils down to a question of justice.
Like human rights, definitions of justice vary from topic to topic. An early definition of justice is attributed
to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in The Republic which was his vision of
the ideal state. He stated that justice
is the harmony between the needs and abilities of individuals and the needs of
the state.
We
are all created equal but we are not all created alike. There are basic human rights that everyone
needs such as freedom of speech, freedom of expression, access to health care,
education, and information with which to make informed decisions about how to
fulfill one’s own rights and the rights of others.
There also things
that certain individuals need to correct for past injustices such as those which
were done deliberately to other individuals such as through racism, sexism or
almost any other -ism or those that occur through a mishap of nature such as a
natural disaster or through a genetically inherited disease or those that occur
through some combination of nature and deliberate actions by other humans. Correcting these injustices is difficult as
people may disagree on what the appropriate corrective measures are. The debate about appropriate corrective
measures should continue as no one individual has access to all of the
necessary information that is needed to provide these measures. This debate should proceed with respect to
others with the goal of finding the truth that allows for the appropriate
corrective actions to take place.
**Related Posts**
