Be The Change You Anticipate

BE THE CHANGE YOU ANTICIPATE

Brethren, please don’t fear change because your life does not get better by chance; rather it gets better by change. Though you might lose something good in the process, but don’t forget that you may also gain something great. In other words, ‘change’ brings either gain or loss. And it is obvious that we always anticipate gain whenever the issue of change is being raised.

Mind you; you can never boast of gain if you don’t thrive towards it. Thus, look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder. It is only by thriving towards something positive that you would have the chances of embracing ‘gain’.

So if we await a certain kind of change, we are expected to thrive in accordance to the anticipation. For instance; you can’t dream of becoming the President of your country while in each day, you sit and watch the country in question revolves round you. On the contrary, one with such dream is expected to revolve round the country rather than the reverse. You must familiarize with every nook and cranny of the country before you would be able to lead the people in it.

We must endeavour to be the change we anticipate. If you want your immediate family to be the eye of others, then you must act rightly. Of course, you must do the right thing if you want other families to emulate yours. If you are the overall head of the family, then you must act like the leader of the home. Remember that a leader is bound to carry everyone along; therefore, his actions must be fair and just to all concerned regardless of the circumstance. Then by so doing, people from other homes would like to emulate yours.

It beats my psyche each time I see some persons who pray for or anticipate a corrupt-free leadership from their country’s President, whilst in their respective offices or various fields of endeavour, they are the most corrupt officials/staff. The Igbo people would say: ‘Ji Ire gi guo eze gi onu’. This means; count your teeth with your tongue. Yes you must endeavour to painstakingly count your dental arrangement with your noble tongue if you actually want to ascertain the exact number.

Beloved, you can’t continue sitting on the fence if you are really looking forward seeing a certain positive change in any society you belong. If everyone decides to follow suit regarding your attitude, how do you think it would look like? I mean, if every other members of that society decide to join you and sit on the fence, then who would facilitate the change which you earnestly anticipate? You must acknowledge the fact that all hands is expected to be on deck for anything to work. Let’s ride on!

The arithmetic or the procedure is very simple, and it goes like this: if you want something good, then you must be good; if you wish to obtain something great, definitely you must act greatly; if you dream to become a leader, you are expected to comport yourself as a leader because considering the nature of your dream, you are no doubt a potential leader; of course lastly, if you anticipate a complete society as regards the society you belong, then you must try as much as possible to be a complete man or woman in all ramifications, because it’s only a complete being that can create a complete environment. There is no two ways about any of the above facts.

Our paramount plight is remains that, most time we prefer to watch others fight or act on our behalf while we go to bed. Even if you don’t wish to act or be among the acting team, you should be prepared to be among the clapping team. The rule is simple. Invariably courtesy demands that, if one is not in the bidding team, he/she ought to be in the clapping team, because it is only when you cheer others up that they would be more motivated and determined to act in the right direction.

Another predicament we often face is that, we are usually afraid of encountering a negative change. Some of us would prefer to remain silent and dormant instead of embracing failure. Believe me, fear has killed or maimed several of our dreams than failure has ever done. Frankly, fear of the unknown is a canker we all must endeavour to fight squarely before our problem would degenerate into something deadly.

Surely, it is better to act and obtain failure than to be dormant thereby remaining whom you are. Unequivocally, failure is indeed a recipe required to obtain the desired success. If you don’t fail, you will never know the exact route that leads to the success room. This is why sometime those who succeed freely often end-up messing up their golden opportunity. Thus, failure is worthwhile just as success is. Both are needed by mankind while attaining greatness.

At this juncture I repeat; be the change you anticipate. Act positively each day even if some days you have to act a little harder. In a nutshell, if you truly want Nigeria to be better come 2015, then you must also thrive towards becoming a better person. Think about it!

 

FDN NWAOZOR

frednwaozor@gmail.com   

Follow: @fdnnwaozor

2014 Int'l Human Solidarity Day (Aired Viewpoint)

A CLARION CALL FOR THOROUGH BROTHERHOOD AMONG NIGERIANS AS WE CELEBRATE THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY, TODAY SATURDAY DECEMBER 20

Solidarity, in a precise term, could be defined as a complete unity and support among people of a certain group. It can also be addressed as an absolute togetherness showcased by members/occupants of a particular group or locality as the case might be.

Solidarity is identified in the Millennium Declaration as one of the fundamental values of international relations in the twenty-first (21^st) century, wherein those who either suffer or benefit least deserve help or support from those who benefit most. Consequently, in the context of globalization and the challenge of growing inequality, the uplift of international solidarity remains unavoidable.

Surely, the concept of solidarity has defined the work of the United Nations (UN) since the birth of the organization. The establishment of the UN drew the peoples and nations of the world together to promote peace, human rights, social and economic developments. The body was founded on a basic premise of unity and harmony among its Member States. It is indeed in the spirit of solidarity that the union relies on cooperation in solving international plights of socio-economic, cultural or humanitarian origin in order to maintain universal peace and security.

Frankly, solidarity is a very vital tool required to solve problems in our interconnected world. We can only reach our shared goals if people are able to participate in the formulation and implementation of plans, policies, programmes, and what have you, to shape our common future, since it is already noted that commitments without empowerment are merely words without meaning.

Having noticed the effect of solidarity among mankind, there is no need reiterating the fact that thorough brotherhood can only be actualized through indulgence in solidarity. Thus, adoption of human solidarity by any entity is no doubt a pathway towards an arena loaded with undiluted unity, since a thorough brotherhood practice among a group of individuals is an epitome of exemplary oneness.

Today Saturday December 20, the world over is celebrating the 2014 International Human Solidarity Day; the annual International Human Solidarity Day was established on 22^nd December 2005, by the United Nations (UN). Having acknowledged the fact that solidarity is one of the basic and universal values that ought to underlie relations between peoples in the Twenty-first Century, on the aforementioned date, the UN General Assembly decided to proclaim December 20 of each year as Int’l Human Solidarity Day.

Prior to the adoption of the Day by the United Nations, by resolution on 20^th December 2002, the General Assembly established the World Solidarity Fund which was duly set up in February 2003 as a trust fund of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its motive is to eradicate poverty and promote social and human development in developing countries, particularly amongst the poorest segments of their populations.

Since it is obvious that solidarity, which guarantees absolute unity, is as well a giant step towards alleviating the poverty level of any society, then there is an urgent need for a right thinking citizen of any country such as Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone among others currently salvaged by poverty to support the ongoing human solidarity crusade as much as they can. In addition, there is also need for a country like Nigeria that is being attacked by insurgency to do everything humanly possible to ensure that solidarity among the citizenry becomes the order of the day.

Nigeria can promote thorough brotherhood among her populace by closing the existing gaps including ethnicity, corruption, nepotism, religious cum social discrimination, chauvinism, and personal aggrandizement that are presently found in the country’s socio-political sector. As the country is fast approaching another era of interregnum, there is need for all the electorates to comprehend the essence of solidarity with the view of actualizing a common goal that would benefit the country in its entirety.

As the global community commemorates the annual International Human Solidarity Day, today, I’m urging the Nigerian citizenry to borrow a leave from the developed nations such as United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and United States of America in regard to embracing thorough brotherhood, which is indeed a scenario that would yield the long awaited socio-economic emancipation.

 

 

 

          FDN NWAOZOR
Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist

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            frednwaozor@gmail.com   

              +2348028608056  

       

2014 Int'l Human Rights Day (Aired News-Commentary)

THE NEED TO UPHOLD THE MANDATE OF ANY CONSTITUTION AS THE WORLD COMMEMORATES THE HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, TODAY WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10, 2014

In any existing society, everyone is entitled to certain rights or privileges as the case may be, which signifies the value of that person in the society in question. This phenomenon is invariably regarded by all and sundry as ‘Human Rights.’

Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly safeguarded as legal rights in both national and international laws. They are usually seen as undeniable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because he or she is a human being as well as a bona-fide member of that society regardless of the person’s location, language, skin colour, religion, ethnic origin, background, among other statuses.

Human rights are universal and supreme, in the sense that it is being applicable everywhere and at every time; and they are also egalitarian, in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require empathy and the rule of law, and impose an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others.

Fundamentally, it is forbidden for human rights to be taken away, ignored or overlooked by any person, officer, court of law or any instituted authority, unless as a result of due process based on specific circumstances. Ordinarily, human rights require freedom from unlawful molestation, discrimination, assault, torture, detention, imprisonment, and/or execution, which have recently been the order of the day in most localities or countries.

The doctrine of human rights has been highly influential within national and international laws coupled with regional and global institutions. Actions by states and non-governmental organizations form a basis of public policy worldwide. There is a consensus that human rights encompasses a wide variety of rights such as the right to life, fair trial, prosecution, protection against enslavement, prohibition of genocide, free speech, information dissemination, choice of religion, and a right to education. Though some thinkers or schools of thought are of the view that human rights ought to comprise a minimum requirement to avoid the worst-case abuses while others see the wide variety as a higher standard.

Many of the basic ideas that yielded the Human Rights Movement came up in the aftermath of the Second World War and the atrocities of The Holocaust. The aforementioned ideas or views culminated in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris – France by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in the year 1948. Although the ancient people did not have the same modern-day ideology of universal human rights.

The real forerunner of human rights crusade was the concept of natural rights which appeared as part of the medieval natural law tradition that became notable during the enlightenment by philosophers like Francis Hutcheson, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, and which featured predominantly in the political thrives of both the American and French Revolutions.

From the above foundation, the modern human rights arguments emerged during the half of the twentieth century possibly as a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide, and war crimes, as a realization of inherent human vulnerability and as being a precondition for the emergence of the anticipated just society.

Due to the supremacy and universality of human rights, every adopted constitution or bye-law creates a special column which categorically stipulates the rights and privileges binding the entire members of the society/group that abides by the mandates of the said constitution, and such provision is bound to remain sacrosanct among the members unless unanimous amendments are made to that effect.

Frankly, sine recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the rudiments of freedom, peace and justice in the world; and since all human beings were born free and equal in dignity and rights, there is an absolute need for the fundamental rights stipulated in any constitution to be duly upheld, in order to put to a stop all forms of human rights abuses taking place in all nooks and crannies across the globe.

Today Wednesday December 10, the world over is commemorating the 2014 Human Rights Day. In 1950, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 10^th December of every year as Human Rights Day, to bring the attention of people of the world to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples as well as all nations.

This year’s slogan – ‘Human Rights 365’, bears the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times, is entitled to the full range of human rights. It also showcases that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.

As the world commemorates the Human Rights Day today, I’m earnestly soliciting that the mandate of any adopted constitution or bye-law regarding fundamental rights and privileges should be treated as sacrosanct or supreme by the overall members of the society in question irrespective of their statuses, and that every member regardless of his/her status ought to be a beneficiary to such provision.

At this juncture, I enjoin all Rights activists and civil societies to be fierce and uncompromising as they strive relentlessly towards upholding the nobility of Human Rights.

 

        COMR FRED NWAOZOR

Public Affairs Analyst & Rights Activist

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          frednwaozor@gmail.com

             +2348028608056