#UCK! Your RIGHTS!
#UCK your RIGHTS! Yes I did just say that! But it isn't coming from me. It's coming from all of the people who you think "have to" respect your rights but they could give two hairs off of a wasp's @$$ about them. In fact, if you are ever placed in a position where it is up to them to "respect your rights", in a secluded place with you, they will take all of those rights that you're screaming about and shove them right up your food exit! Now let's get into understanding the true power of a "right", and how we can assure that some jerk can't #uck our rights and then us right behind it.
To understand out rights today we have to understand them yesterday. Almost every (if not all) "rights" listed by a government is a value that was fought for by men, women and sometimes even children who were heavily oppressed. Many if not most of them were treated cruelly and even KILLED (mostly by their governments) for standing up for these rights when they weren't recognized by the power as a right. In fact, people are stilled murdered today in many countries for standing up for the sensible, fair rights of other human beings. The rights that we have today are sacred, ancient values, blessed in the blood of ALL of our ancestors.
Now when something is put into law as a "right" it is the "responsibility" of the citizens of that community to treat each other according to that right, and the "responsibility" of that government's law enforcement agencies to equally protect those rights for each and every citizen. As a citizen, it is "expected" that I treat every person that I encounter without violating the "rights" that they have been "given". And law enforcement is expected to punish those who treat others in a manner that violates the "right" that the government issues. This all makes the world go 'round perfectly when this machine works and everyone obeys. But here lands the problem. There is a large number of people who have absolutely no respect for anyone's rights, and law enforcement is capable of catching a minimal amount of those who violate the rights of others. This leaves the citizen on his or her own sometimes to exercise his rights by the hand of his own authority or else, that right will not exist for him at that moment. And this is where we as modern citizens can fail miserably.
I can recall one day reading an article about a woman who was jogging through a park in St. Louis around midnight while wearing only a sports bra and very short shorts. She was attacked by a group of pieces of $#it and sexually assaulted. After reading the article I went on my social network where I posted the article, and put out a warning to everyone. My warning read as such...
"Ladies! PLEASE DO NOT go jogging in the middle of the night in a dark park while half naked! If you want to run in this type of gear, do it in the morning in a place that you know and carry a weapon!"
To my surprise a few women were deeply offended by this post. They lashed out at me with the cliche' response of, "I have the right to go running in my bikini at midnight if I want to!" One lady even said, "Why are you saying this only to the women and not the men?! That's sexist! So you're saying that it's ok for men to run in the park at night?!"
Of course I was shocked at these responses and how these ladies were converting my effort to help women be safe, into a witch hunt of a sexist man. But of course I fired back because that's how I am. I responded with a question first to the lady who claimed I was being sexist. I said, "Wait. You want me to direct this at men? Are men getting sexually assaulted while running through parks? I'm speaking on topic of the article that I posted about the woman getting attacked. This isn't about car jacking, home invasions or men being attacked."
And my second and most important response was, "You have the "right" to run in the park half naked at midnight? Yes you do just as I have the right to run through a pack of wolves wearing underwear and a shirt made of bloody meat. Your "right" doesn't protect you from those who could care less about your rights and it isn't worth taking a chance on getting hurt while daring these types of people. I'm talking about safety not politics or ego. Yes you and all of us have many rights but there are people out there who have something stronger than your right and that is the "ability" to step on your rights and #uck you up!"
The mindset of the ladies who were offended by my post was a delusional mindset that many of us carry today and that is the idea that our "rights" owe us and will always magically be there to protect us. We feel "entitled" that it is the duty of others to stand up for our rights and protect us from those who want to violate our rights. This is not true. Our rights protect us only from those who respect and follow it. They offer us absolutely no protection from those who don't. It is not the job or even ability of our rights to protect us. Actually, it is the job of each of us to individually protect our rights.
The more that we protect our rights the stronger the influence of that right becomes. The more that we sit back and expect a right to protect us, the weaker that right becomes. A "right" is simply an "idea" that holds no power. The only power that a "right" has is the power that the citizen exhibits in the name of that right. And the more that the citizen is willing to do to enforce this right, the greater that right is.
A "right" is something that can not be taken from another by another. You have the right to protect your rights from everyone at anytime but only if you truly believe that you have that right. And sometimes protecting a right doesn't mean we will be rewarded for it. We may even be punished for protecting our rights. But regardless of how standing for our right turns out for us, it remained our right until the end and more importantly, it can remain a right for others.
And THIS, ...is a "way" of the "Warrior's Edge!" -Jermaine Andre'
