LETTERS: Guaranteeing human rights, Cruises are fun

Guaranteeing human rights

What’s the world’s most translated document? According to Guinness World Records, it’s the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, now translated into more than 500 languages.

Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, marks the 75th anniversary of the date the UN General Assembly proclaimed and set forth, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

The first article of the declaration is that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

In that spirit of brotherhood, perhaps we can lift our eyes above our personal situations and think about what can be done to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

Some of those rights include the right to education; to equality before the law and equal protection of the law without discrimination; to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of a person and his family; to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution; to work, to free choice of employment, and to just and favorable conditions of work; and to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Seventy-five years after its implementation, the world’s human rights situation has evolved. There is much to be done. And who will do the job? All of us have a part to play.

Personally, this quotation from the Baha’i Faith inspires me to keep working: “Dedicate the precious days of your lives to the betterment of the world.”

Steve Wilder

Harlingen

Cruises are fun

Think about it: You take your home, cooks, servers, room service and entertainment on a trip with you. You spend the day visiting a nation and at the end of the day you come home to your ship where waiters treat you like the Royal Family. Room service makes your bed, clean towels, entertainment for the day, game shows to participate in and enjoy your vacation.

And if you just want to kick back and relax, you can do so. You can sit on your balcony, view the sea and sky and let your imagination go and enjoy your time there. All this time the clock is ticking toward the end of your trip. At the beginning it seems you have all the time in the world but, as time begins to close you dread going back to your normal life and think: Who is going to make breakfast for me? Who will fix my bed during breakfast?

I don’t know If I will ever adjust to normal life after this. Believe me, those thoughts will go through your mind on your first cruise ship experience; it is a fantastic trip experience.

Your first-time cruise ship experience will be the one you remember the most. At the end, memories will make us smile when we think back on our experience.

Rafael Madrigal

Pharr

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