Respect, Dignity, and the Pursuit of Human Rights
“Human rights are simply to live a long life and to be treated with worth. This is the bare minimum that society should grant. However, no matter how far this evil world progresses, it turns 1000 steps back.”
From the early teachings of Christianity to the famous, classic song, Respect, by Aretha Franklin, the theme of treating other individuals with the same degree as one treats themselves has been constant throughout history. Individuals are told that they were born with inalienable human rights, and that all people have worth. The terms “human rights” and “human dignity” are universal standards. Human rights give people a basis of how to treat one another, and human dignity demonstrates respect towards one another. In personal, political, and social settings, the world’s standards are different from its applications. For instance, lack of self-worth leads to suicide, nations deprive citizens of living prosperous lives, and there is division and hatred among various groups. The world has significantly advanced in its acceptance of different views and lifestyles, but also in its ability to end human life, which strips away the rights and dignity that humans should possess. As viewed from an extraterrestrial observer, it’s obviously clear wars are still being fought over basic human rights as individuals search for life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The importance of looking in from this perspective is in understanding the bigger picture of how human rights and dignity were applied before, and how they have come to be. Currently, there are suffering families being separated and killed due to tyrannical dictators. and countries are bent on ending all of human civilization with one touch of a button. Of course, it would look as though the world has not advanced from its ancestral counterparts, as human rights and dignity are still a mystery to mankind, but this may be due to humans' instinct of survival of the fittest. Humans would rather save themselves and their livelihood than care about others. Therefore, the observer begs the question, how has the world preserved the idea of human rights and dignity of its citizens, and will society ever reach this peace that humans have desperately sought after?
The current world seems, to the outside observer, a world with no rule book or regulations to follow that dictate how to preserve and teach human beings correctly. However, there has always been a foundation for how humans should conduct themselves. For instance, writings over history have given humans the chance to reflect. The Magna Carta, Enlightenment Ideals, the Constitution, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were all written to demonstrate the rights, freedoms, and restrictions that nations and individuals should follow to ensure the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of everyone on planet Earth. Even outside these profound writings, religious teachings, especially in Christianity, have shown the importance of the inherent dignity that everyone possesses. The Bible, in particular, has shown me that everyone is made in the image of God, so we must teach others with the same degree of respect, kindness, and love as we treat ourselves. We were all born with natural rights, as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Therefore, the rights to live an “auspicious” life shouldn’t be taken away by those who believe their power is above everyone else.¹ Chomsky uses the word auspicious in the context of people seeing a promising future with the introduction of nuclear warfare turning into the “nuclear war era.” I thought the choice of wording was profound as humans had much hope for their future, especially with national security. However, after all the years, this has turned into a fearful response of worry about the world’s survival. I use this word to show that humans should be given the chance to live a hopeful and favorable life, but the current world, and its means to hinder this chance, seems to make this life less promising. The suffering of this world should have been avoidable if only individuals, communities, and countries had decided to take into account the worth and dignity that others possess.
A child weeping over her mother’s dead body in war-torn streets is a common example of what is currently happening in this world. Historically, families were separated and sold into slavery and native peoples were stripped of their lands and livelihood. One may say that there have been great changes in the world, and the world has gotten better. The answer is yes, but “better” does not mean that society has reached a point where human lives are seen as universally important. There is still human trafficking, inequality, war, racism — the list goes on and on. Even the idea of national security puts the lives of the entire world at risk, as nations are developing nuclear weapons to destroy others, but ultimately, in the end, we are destroying ourselves. It’s the “audacity” to believe that citizens in one country or community are more important than others. Chomsky uses this word in a similar context by addressing the mindset that most individuals have, about not fighting for the end of these violent advancements of the world. In my case, this means ending the mindset that some individuals deserve more than others, such as a chance to live another day.
As an extraterrestrial observer, the world might seem to be moving closer to understanding human rights. However, is the rate at which we advance to perfect peace going to be faster than that of destroying the hope of a better tomorrow? Based on how society is progressing, that answer may not be very certain. An example may be used from Chomsky’s How Many Minutes to Midnight? to demonstrate that the world is destroying itself through the introduction of nuclear weapons. Chomsky clarifies this point by giving an example from history, where an “officer on duty …decided to disobey orders and not report [a false] warning to his superiors. … And thanks to his dereliction of duty, we’re still alive to talk about it.” Due to the officer not reporting a strike alert, the protocols for retaliation and striking back were not initiated. This means that the lives of everyone on Earth were saved by one man’s clever thinking. It’s a sad occurrence that human rights and dignity are put in jeopardy by people who have the power to destroy the planet. The word “dereliction” is used in that the officer’s lack of following orders was shameful, however, everyone would agree that he should have been praised. I would use this word in the instance that the person declaring a nation strike was in “dereliction” of human survival This is just one example of a few throughout recent history in which humans have almost destroyed the hope for a better tomorrow. Outside the spectrum of nuclear destruction, there are still ongoing issues and wars occurring that indicate that the importance of human life will not be fully realized until it is too late. In addition, most individuals and nations have the interest of their own well-being and security above all else, rather than that of humanity as a whole. In the context of national conflicts, countries consider ending civilizations as national security, but as Chomsky quotes McGeorge Bundy in How Many Minutes to Midnight?, “‘Yes it is well to begin with a recognition that both the United States and the Soviet Union might be in much less nuclear danger today if [those] missiles had never been developed.’” Human lives are at stake because nations have not fully realized that unique, distinct individuals make up the countries they are bent on destroying. Getting back at a nation’s government does not mean it is right to kill their innocent citizens. For example, the idea of a dead child resting on the streets of a country that was recently bombed is a devastating picture. The child was not part of the conflict, but became a victim of it. Human rights are simply to live a long life and to be treated with worth. This is the bare minimum that society should grant. However, no matter how far this evil world progresses, it turns 1000 steps back. As an extraterrestrial observer, it’s nonsense to think that this world has advanced tremendously over the last 200 years, but can also find ways to destroy what it has recently built up. Humans have always, from caveman times, only cared about themselves, which is clearly something that hasn’t yet wrapped around their hard skulls a million years later.
Human dignity and human rights are standards that everyone has for themselves, but demonstrating them to others may turn out to be a different story. If only the world cared about respect, then we could work towards finding peace in society and valuing each person as we do ourselves. To finally answer the observer's question, yes, the world has preserved the idea, not the application, of human rights and dignity, but society will not reach the peace needed to survive another century any time soon. Therefore, the one looking down from up above will soon watch the world’s inglorious end.
¹ Noam Chomksy, Who Rules the World?