Federation of World Peace and Love

Human Rights? Yeah, right.

Keir Rudiger Schone

Teacher, William Language School

 

Are you safe? Really safe? Are you free from excessive worry, fear, anxiety, and suffering? Not if you live on planet earth.  And why not? Because our world is desperately out of balance. Humans are wild animals, but with several key differences. One difference is our ability to transform our environment. And so we have. Since our inception, humans have exploited each other, animals, the world we live on, and (now) nearly all of the world’s natural resources.  This is bad for so many reasons.   

When we speak of rights, we are speaking of balance. What is another’s right, but the freedom to achieve balance, peace, harmony, and pleasure in their life. You may pause here to laugh. You would be right to laugh. What man, woman or child has the ability to achieve these things in our world? No one, that’s who. Yet, each and every one of us has the right to all of these things. What we call “happiness” is the inherent right of every sentient being in the universe. Why are so few people happy? It seems the majority are not. People are killing each other as you read this. People are killing themselves as you read this. People are torturing, and killing (other) animals as you read this. People are destroying the air, soil, rivers, lakes, oceans, rain forests, and wiping out species of plants and animals as you read this. In short, we have taken away what we were never given permission to take, another’s rights. 

When someone destroys the environment, they destroy your environmental rights. Who can take pleasure in a world where everything is dying? Who can be truly happy and content surrounded by the (unnecessary) misery and suffering of all living things in this world? No one, that’s who. The sad irony here Is that all of our right s are connected. When one person denies the rights of another, we all suffer. We are one. 

It seems that there will always be a few people with power, and most with almost none. I fit into the later, and (probably) so do you.  It seems that people in power want to keep it that way, and thus they will probably always abuse the inherent rights bestowed upon man and all other living things. So what’s the light at the end of the tunnel? How do we heal the world which is so out of balance? Here are two possible answers:

A. The truth is, we don’t.  We lost the right to do that a long time ago. Your voice, your power, and your rights are as dead as mine. My advice would be to allow yourself to be brainwashed by those in power. Believe that you can make a difference. Recycle, take quick showers, drive less often, and die in ignorant bliss. That’s the closest you are going to get to achieving peace and harmony in your life.  And most importantly, try to forget the article that told you what you already know deep down. That is, our best possible future scenario is one in which cockroaches actually do manage to survive. If they do, surely, they will be alone. You my friend, have the right to remain silenced.

B. Take the power back. Reclaim and enforce your rights and the rights of all other forms of life on earth. How you do that is up to you to decide. I wrote this. Will you light one candle?