Another anniversary I can’t let slip by unnoticed: on this day fifty-nine years ago, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I know, I know: it’s a controversial document, it’s non-binding, the UN has left unfulfilled its promise on human rights, blah, blah, blah…
I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care what they say: I believe the Universal Declaration still remains the central moral conscience of the world community and one of the truly sacred documents of our day. In particular, its reference to the “inherent dignity…of all members of the the human family” is a powerful reminder that human rights ultimately begin at home. In the words of one of its drafters, the great Eleanor Roosevelt:
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
In honor of the day, I encourage you to click above, read the Declaration, then send on the link to your friends.
May we realize its vision speedily and in our day.
Thank you for sharing this. It serves as inspiration and indictment. May we – as the Great Soul said – work to be the change that we wish to see in this world.
(Note: Today also marks the commemoration of Juneteenth – the celebration of the so-called end of slavery in the U.S.)