Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Human Rights (Day)




 The logo for Human Rights Day 2014 and hashtag rights365

"I call on States to honour their obligation 
to protect human rights every day of the year. 
I call on people to hold their governments to account."
~ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon




Midweek Motif ~ 
Human Rights (Day)



Today is Human Rights Day. Have you read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?? I love #22. The document itself is an achievement.


Your Challenge: 


(1)Write a poem inspired by 
Ban Ki-Moon's challenge above.


OR:  


(2)Write a poem that answers 
one or more of these questions while staying within the "human rights" motif:


~ What is Human?
~ What are Rights?
~ What can/has uniting nations accomplished for human rights?
~ How do your dinner plans for tonight reflect Human rights?



HUMAN RIGHTS ACCORDING TO ELEANOR ROOSEVELT:

Where after all do universal human rights begin? In small places, closes to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: The neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
 Eleanor Roosevelt
Remarks at the United Nations, March 27, 1958



“While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things,
The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.” 
― Robert Burns
The Complete Works Of Robert Burns



For those who are new to Poets United:  

  1. Post your new Human Rights poem on your site, and then link it here.
  2. If you use a picture include its link.  
  3. Share only original and new work written for this challenge. 
  4. Leave a comment here.
  5. Visit and comment on our poems.


(Next week's Midweek Motif will be the last one this year.  Our motif will be MUSIC in honor of Beethovan's birthday and the choral songs that arise around holidays and year's end ... )






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22 comments:

  1. Thank you for the prompt Susan - and good to be back - obtusely perhaps...but maybe that's one of the joys of having the freedom to be human!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, two of the joys--(1) returning to where you are wanted and missed and (2) allowing yourself some fog/lethargy in human freedom. Obtuse you are not. Good to see you, Jae Rose.

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  2. Yay, Jae Rose is back! I am under the weather (again), kids, but will make the rounds through the day and evening, in between lying down!!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, she's back! That will perk you up a little. Sorry to hear you are under the weather again. Here, I too lie down between poems and listen to the winter wind blow. We haven't snow yet, but are expecting some along with our third day of rain.

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    2. Right to pondering, to write, to dream....Ah! Thanks for the prompt, Susan!

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    3. Hey, Sherry, get back soon! TGJ - glad Jae Rose back x

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    4. Aww thanks Sherry - feel better soon...hope you are tucked up with a lovely magical book xo

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  3. Goodness 'tis the season to be sick in bed. That's where I'm writing from as well. Sherry please get well the weather has had you under..., Rose so good to see your smile and Susan thanks as always for you hosting. No matter the temperature outside its always warm at Poets United!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Leslie. Sorry to hear you are sick too. What a long dark day this has been! But here's a beam of light: It is Emily Dickinson's birthday. Treat yourself:
      “A word is dead when it's been said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.” ― Emily Dickinson

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  4. This one touched a raw nerve for me!

    Welcome back, Jae Rose, and get well soon Susan, Sherry and Moonie.

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    Replies
    1. PS I knew I loved Rabbie Burns — even more so on reading your quote, Susan.

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    2. Thank you Rosemary...good to be here

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  5. Susan such a wonderful prompt...this is a topic which comes close to one's core..as we all understand the struggle for fundamental living is a fact we just cannot ignore anymore...

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    Replies
    1. Good to see you, Arathi. I'm heading over to your poem ...

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  6. hi Everyone!!! I have just added my offering to our wonderful Midweek Motif: Human Rights (Day)!!! I am in the Christmas mood lately and so I wrote it just now. God bless us all!!!

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  7. Susan,

    Considered my stance, then added my poetic thoughts...Hope it works for the prompt..

    Eileen

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely. We've got to see it to change it.

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  8. I absolutely had fun writing this human right's poem. It got my brain stirring a bit about what it means to have rights. A lot of the time we take our rights for granted, and I can't help but wonder what would happen if these rights were suddenly taken away. What do you all think?

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  9. Hey, Kenn. If someone took my rights away, I might spend a minute in recognition of others'pain and then another minute to fall into a shock I might not wale from. I have not learned stamina and survival in the face of gross indignity. I have not learned humility in the face of horrible injustice. In the next minute, i could easily be dead.

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