A Manifest for Humanity

In recent days, I've heard and read a great deal about the anxiety of individuals on the general poor state of our planet's political condition.  We face the possibility of wars of varying intensity through the middle east.  We fear the possibility of terrorism on our own doorstep.  We see the animosity directed toward ourselves and back again by our own society.  I perceive that our political discourse and conversations are veering ever greater to emphasizing what makes each of our groups different rather than attempting to understand how we are all fundamentally similar.  In all, I've grown frustrated with our own petty tribalism.  I've become annoyed by speeches which describe only what we are against and only on the most simplistic, unreasoning way.  I want to give a declaration of what I am for in the belief that I am not alone and in the hope that others might share in affirming the good in humanity instead of the bad.
 

Idealism

• The world can be a benevolent place if allowed to be so; people can be kind if they choose.
• There is a place for everyone somewhere, that it is possible to make a better society and that we can get there without having to abandon others along the way.
• Respecting each other is not a zero sum game, that doing so does not diminish ourselves in any way.
• With rights come duties but these can be mutually supportive rather than destructive:  paying our own way can be as enriching as enjoying the rewards of our individual & collective labor.
• The act of sharing does not necessarily subtract from what we have:  it sometimes multiplies it.
• In times of need or pain, no one need stand alone.

Equality

• Each of us has an inherent right to freedom of speech, freedom of religious belief, freedom of association, freedom of movement.
• We have a right to live free of discrimination resulting from the colour of our skin, our sex, our economic status, our caste or social class.
• We have a right to love whom we choose.  The activities or preferences of consenting adults in their own homes is not the business of anyone else but themselves.
• We have a right to be paid for our work.  Slavery and indentured servitude are no longer acceptable.
• We have a right to raise our families to the best of our abilities and to pass to our children our values.
• We have a right to vote and to use our votes to dismiss our leaders without explanation or condition.
• We have a right to self-improvement.  If we cannot grow mentally, physically or spiritually, what is the point of living at all?  At its worst, this should represent minimal job skills and literacy.  At its best, it should be the skills to improve the lot of us all and to enrich our souls with art & beauty as well as our bodies with food & shelter.
• We have a right to seek legal remedy for wrongs committed against us, for equal treatment in the courts and to equal enforcement of the law.
• We have a right to the minimal requirements of life:  edible food, drinkable water, breathable air and livable shelter.  We cannot expect to have the best of all of these granted for the duration of our lives but we have a right to live without the fear of being deprived of them capriciously or maliciously.

Social Justice

• We have inherited this planet and our society from our parents:  we have a duty to preserve their legacy.
• We are going to pass on this planet and our society to our children:  we have a duty to give it them with some improvements.
• Each of us makes decisions for our own lives.  We must recognize, however, that we do not make these decisions in a vacuum:  others may be affected by our choices and so we have a duty to chose wisely.
• We have a right to dismiss or change the leaders of our governing institutions when they fail our trust and hold them accountable for their decisions in office.  We have the right to apply for leadership roles ourselves if we truly believe we can do the job better.
• We have a right to an accounting for the resources we give to others or to a common cause.
• My body is my own:  no one can use it for their purposes without my freely given consent.

Duties

• We share a common planet.  Keep it clean.
• We have no inherent right to deprive others of their rights.
• We have a duty to avoid harming others, human or animal, gratuitously or unthinkingly and certainly not for pleasure.
• We have a duty to make contributions to society and/or each other in proportion for services we receive, either in cash or in-kind.  There is no free lunch.
• We have a duty to vote and do so conscientiously.
• We have a duty to call attention to injustice where we see it and to intervene if at all possible.
• We have a duty to enforce the law and observe rights equally.
• We have a duty to recognize our own flaws and that we do not have a monopoly on love, truth, justice or God.
• We have a duty to answer to others when we harm them.
• We have a duty to apologize when we are wrong.
• We have a duty to be honest.
• We have a duty to assist others, sometimes sacrificially,  in times of catastrophe:  we may need that help ourselves some day.