Diseases of World Society

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and in rights.”

That quote, believe it or not is the first article of The Declaration of Human Rights, a statement that should ensure us a good life in our own country and in the world, preventing and condemning any injustice that we might endure. It should ensure us the right to education, the right to have a job and to believe in anything that we want, no matter our color or if we are disabled or not.

But as I believe you noticed, I used the words “might” and “should”. Why? Because we don’t live in that perfect world in which all its population obeys the laws and forgets about it interests. As unimaginable as it may seem we live in a world that appreciates most your physical qualities and the color of your skin, rather than the fact that you might be smarter and wiser than all the others. And because of these concepts, two old and sometimes deadly problems have emerged again from the ashes of time: racism and social discrimination, problems that have become normal in most of the worlds societies.

All our lives we’ve read about wars and revolutions, about what started them and what were the consequences, being thought at the same time how to avoid making the same mistakes again. But sadly, it seems that no one was paying attention to that lesson. We’ve all been hypnotized and forced to believe that we live in a perfect society where everyone loves everyone and where failure, discord, and hate can’t exist.

I was one of those people until I woke up and looked around me and I saw the world as it really is, cruel and sometimes unforgiving. I saw the fact that children are being persecuted and mistreated every day because of their skin color, that they are denied the right to education, to treatments, to live a normal and happy life in a stabile environment. Because of this mentality, children in Africa, aborigine children in Australia never even reach the age of two. They are all malnourished and sick with diseases that can easily be treated with medicines that cost less than 10 dollars. Day by day innocent children lose their lives because of the ignorance of the majority of the world’s population children that one day might have found cures for some of the world’s deadliest diseases.

But, sadly this ignorance spreads way beyond that. You see, we live in a world that needs to have a standard for everything, from clothing, to food, to pets to houses and even for people. We’re not all born perfect, and because of that some of us are being exiled at the edge of the society. Do you think that that’s normal? No it’s not. Why the persons that were born with disabilities should be treated like retarded persons and felt sorry for? Most of those people want to go to college, to have a job, a family and live their lives as normally as possible. But that thing doesn’t happen often. It seems that the society if the 21^st century believes that they are not fit to be a part them. And because of that disabled people are being refused when they go at job interview that they are qualified for, maybe better than the other candidates, thus forcing them to struggle so that they could live a decent live. What do we all think? That they have no feelings? They do and they feel so happy when they get to do something that all of us are able to do. I remember when I went to Disneyland Paris my friends and I went to have a ride in the tea cups. We were all very excited. Then I noticed that near the waiting line there was a paralyzed girl that looked with sadness at those that were in the cups having fun. Then when the ride stop, before we got on, the park staff went to her and her mother and offered to help her get on the ride. I stood there and I saw the happiness on that girls face as she was taking that ride, she actually felt like a normal person. How can we deny that happiness to all disabled people? Sometimes I think that our society is made up only of ignorant and hateful people that believe that if they can’t enjoy life, no one should. But all these problems are being are just small consequences of another bigger and sometimes deadlier problem: racism.

After seeing the consequences of the Second World War, people united and fought against those who believed that they are superior to all the others. They aroused and stated that throw the Declaration of Human Rights, all the people of the world will be safe and equal in the future. Yes, let us dream about that future for that’s all that we’re doing. In real life things are quite different.

Racism manifests itself in many ways all over the world, changing from continent to continent, and from country to country. In Europe in the last decades it’s been characterized by the oppressions against gypsies and Jews. In Africa the black population has started to attack the small white farmers, while in the US the white population is showing it’s antipathy for the black population. In Australia the aborigines are living in a cruel poverty because of the laws passed by the Australian government that forbid them to get a job and medical assistance , while the people in some South America countries live also in great poverty. But let’s not forget the biggest racist fight that has recently started, the fight of the religions, a fight that has became deadly and that has scared al lot of people especially after the events that took place in the US and in Europe. But instead of getting better, this thing is getting worse. All over the world racist parties have started to win the elections and are slowly but surely changing the way of thinking of their electors. And because of that more and more conflicts will appear every day.

We all want to live in a peaceful world where everyone is happy. How can we make things better when we keep making them worse? We all say that we’re better that the others, yet we start to make bigger mistakes than them. How can discriminating the ones around us makes our lives better? It doesn’t. It seems that for everything that goes wrong in our country is another’s fault, not ours, so we let the minorities or the one that we can’t stand take the blame. But if they stood for a second and reflected, they would see that those problems are affecting all of us not just the white population or the Christians or the Jews or the Muslims. If we could realize that we can’t judge an entire minority by the actions of one or two members than maybe we could make our lives and those around us better and stop all those stupid wars that are taking place around us everyday.

Sadly we can’t change the way of thinking of a generation that has lived with these concepts all their lives, but we can make a difference for the next generation. We can teach the children of this and the next generation to learn from our ancestors mistakes and to try to avoid making them again. But even better than that, we could start uniting and trying to find answers to the questions that really matter for us and for our children. Who knows if the person that we save together won’t be the one that will find a cure for one or more of the deadly diseases that have spread all over the world and in every community? Will never know how better our lives can get if we don’t try to do something first! So this is my advice to you:

“United we can make things better, so let us create the world that we deserve”.

By Andie