Small Things Count

Tomorrow (12/10) is U.N. Human Rights Day. The aim is for us to think about and act on improving the human rights of all people worldwide. That’s a tall order. But we can start with the people around us. Those attacked for their ethnicity or religious beliefs. Adults and children living with abuse. The homeless. The addicted. Prisoners. We begin by adjusting our attitude toward them, leaving behind the feeling that they are somehow to blame, abandoning the “us/them” stance that places them at a lower level, with less dignity and fewer rights that we have. In short, remembering that they are actual human beings. Maybe, after we take thoughtful stock of ourselves, we don’t need this attitude adjustment — although most of us do to some extent–we know someone who does. Then it’s our responsibility to act, to speak up when we’re in the presence of the destruction of human dignity. It’s up to each of us, individually and together, to stand up for the rights even of strangers. Every day should be Human Rights Day!