Article March 8, 1999 Issue

Your right to be free

Health and happiness are your right.
Insist on them.

By Rosalie E. Dunbar

SOME MONTHS AGO I attended a meeting between the citizens of the town I live in and certain officials who have been flouting both the law and the will of the people. The assembly was not in a very peaceful mood. When the moderator of the meeting insisted that the host of a local television program be removed instead of being allowed to cover the story, the people exploded in rage. They felt they had already been denied certain rights, and this new insult made them determined to reclaim all that had been taken from them.

In the end, the reporter was allowed to cover the meeting, and the citizens went on to let the officials know, in polite but very direct terms, that a change in both attitude and behaviour was necessary. In short, they demanded their rights.

In such dramatic cases, the issues seem clear: citizens are guaranteed certain things according to the law, and they have a right to demand them. But what about our right to things we may never have thought were inalienably ours in the first place? Our right to health, for instance. Our right to live without fear. Our right to justice. Or, our right to be free from immoral influences. Is there any guarantee of these rights?

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Cross grief off the calendar