We knew what we wanted 61 years ago.
On December 10th, 1948, a proclamation was created and signed that gave us all a clear look at where we wanted to go as people on this planet. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a masterpiece–it’s simple, profound, and decidedly progressive.
We knew we wanted equality. Dignity. Justice. Peace. And we described these in thirty short articles.
I always read the declaration on Human Rights Day each year. It gives me a sense of hope not because we have made huge strides (sadly, we haven’t in many cases) but because sixty-one years ago, we were able to agree on what mattered most.
Do we all agree now? I’m not so sure. I think the language in the declaration reveals an openness that isn’t present today. I’m afraid that if we were to try to put together thirty articles today to create a vision for what we want for the world that we’d get all caught up in clarifying things and including “except-for” statements. It seems we’ve made everything more contentious and more complicated. We can’t even agree on climate change issues, let alone address the broad scope of human rights described so beautifully in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so many years ago!
In some cases, we’re still fighting over what was stated so clearly–without exemptions–sixty-one years ago. For example, the language in the declaration is very inclusive about the rights of marriage. Here’s a statement from Article 16:
“Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.”
So, okay, they probably weren’t anticipating gay marriage. But why would it matter? ”Men and women” it says. ”The right to marry” it says. ”To found a family.” ”Equal rights.” They kept it simple.
And as an immigrant myself, I kind of like Article 13:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
This one’s pretty progressive, too. (Article 15):
“Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.”
Article 26 hits home as well:
“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”
and
“Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”
Nice.
Today, I invite you to read the declaration and consider the wisdom of its creators back in 1948.
Happy Human Rights Day.
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