The Best

" When I contemplate the natural dignity of man; when I feel (for nature has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the honour and happiness of its character, I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves and fools, and can scarcely avoid the disgust at those who are imposed upon. "
- Thomas Paine

Issues surrounding the hurt, the injustice, the impoverishment of another rarely doesn't strike a chord; as human beings we feel.

Human rights as a movement encourages justice, equality, provision, freedom.

However the idea of human rights can be abused. Lawyers use the idea of human rights to undermine laws as well as argue their client's freedom (whether rightly or wrongly, for both the prosecution and the defendant). The idea of human rights is used to win an argument, to abuse rights, and to demand a questionable right. Basic human rights are not just the right to food and shelter, it's the right to the best food, the best housing, the best car, a computer, a phone, designer clothing. Whatever the individual wants at the time, they demand as a basic human right.

While these 'basic' human rights are being claimed, across the street there are those in hunger, without substantial clothing, without a roof over their heads.

While we can demand the best, we are seemingly unaware of those without even the worst.