“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” – Marin Luther King, Jr.
December 10 is the Human Rights Day – the United Nations have been commemorating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1948, even though the first declaration of human rights took place over 300 years ago through the Enlightment and independence movements in the USA as well as the recording of the first freedoms through the French Revolution. In addition to this legally non-binding resolution, there are other human rights treaties.
What do human rights significate today and when are they available for everyone?
In some moments of life, I briefly doubt us as humanity – but then I quickly turn the focus to myself and my own behavior and ask myself: What have you already done today to support humanity in a positive way? Or I look for role models which humanity needs and who go beyond their personal feelings and act for the common good.
There are indeed many people with positive attitudes on this planet and we as humanity have evolved – yet we cannot ignore that greed, ignorance, and negative aspects have nowadays bigger platforms, like on social media, to do harm. That’s why it’s more important than ever to send out positive vibes, even if it’s tedious at times. Electronics have accelerated our lives by a factor of 39 in the past decades, writes the Austrian physician Johannes Huber in his book “Es exsistiert” (EN: It exists) (Goldmann publisher, 2016). Through improvement and diversity in our diet, our bodies, minds, and ultimately our consciousness have evolved and changed. Johannes Huber compares our current ‘transformation’ to the Neolithic Revolution 10,000 years ago, he says we stand today as humanity at a fork in the road:
Left goes to Homo sapiens sapiens, the human being who knows and is mature enough to reach higher things. On the right there is Homo sapiens bestialis, the human being who wants to remain a predator.
👉Where do you think mankind will develop to?
👉Jimmy Carter once said “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” In which situations have you already been able to feel this strengthening bond?
👉 How do you manage not to lose faith in humanity?
👱🏻♀️🇦🇹 Denise Birkmayer
I met Denise a year ago while running – I ran in her pace group and was very taken with Denise’s considerate and empathetic nature. Denise is an office administrator and in her spare time she loves running, doing crafts, reading and travelling with her husband and son.
I admire Denise for her determination, discipline, and consistency – her goal is to run the ‘big’ and most famous marathons. After Berlin and Valencia, Denise is now preparing for the Chicago Marathon.
👩🏻🦱🇪🇸🇬🇧🇩🇪🇷🇺🇩🇰🇦🇹🇯🇵🇮🇹🇭🇺🇳🇱 Cristina Ceballos
It was in January 2017 in Salzburg where Cristina and I met for the first time – our connection is a very special and beautiful one: although we have only seen each other once we are closely connected in our hearts through our friendship with Azmat.
Cristina grew up in Spain and has already lived in ten different states. Besides studying the piano, Cristina discovered her passion for the tourism industry very early on, which is also how she met her Austrian husband. Her family, which is composed of 2 daughters, is her top priority. Cristina also actively lives out her joy for art – she regularly takes part in advanced courses for portraits + busts and loves to visit exhibitions.
What I admire about Cristina is her love of humanity, her faith, her inner and outer beauty and her empathy.
👩🏻🇺🇸Mary Gonzalez
I met Mary in Chicago in 2012 through Kim White and Strategic Coach. I was instantly smitten with her and am glad I was able to stay connected with Mary through Instagram.
Mary works in the fashion industry and is from Chicago/Illinois. Her hobbies are photography, reading, cycling and spending time with her cats.
What I admire about Mary is that she is a free spirit to me, she is very creative, inspiring and lovely.
👱🏻♀️🇦🇹Denise Birkmayer
👉Where do you think mankind will develop to?
In my opinion we focus a lot on technology which I personally perceive as something positive and interesting. I think back to Expo 2020 in Dubai where I was captivated by the technology. I strongly believe that we humans will be replaced by robots in the future. This is an improvement in certain areas if we think of medicine for example. Generally speaking, I think that people are becoming more selfish. Many people live only for themselves and go through life stubbornly. For many, career is much more important than family. When I (28 years young) look at our circle of friends, two couples of us do already have children. Everybody else is either studying or partying.
👉Jimmy Carter once said, “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” In which situations have you already been able to feel this strengthening bond?
I’ve personally felt this definitely within my family!
👉 How do you manage not to lose faith in humanity?
I don’t allow myself to be blended. When we scroll through social media, we see the perfect family, the perfect body, the perfect career at every turn. But I know that a lot of it is not real. I know that even these perfect mothers have their limits. And I always try to pass this on to everyone: don’t be blinded. Live your life in a positive way, listen to yourself and what is good for you. It is important to be nice to other people, because then you are a good “role model”.
👩🏻🦱🇪🇸🇬🇧🇩🇪🇷🇺🇩🇰🇦🇹🇯🇵🇮🇹🇭🇺🇳🇱Cristina Ceballos
👉Where do you think humanity is heading?
Honestly. I don’t know. This question has been bothering me for a long time. I would love to answer the question positively, because I am convinced that we humans could already create a small paradise on this planet through spiritual development. Nothing is impossible to move mountains, that is, to always give negative developments a positive spin.
But where there is light, there is also shadow. As long as humanity exists, we will always be exposed to this ambivalence.
👉The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the division caused by our fears and prejudices,” Jimmy Carter once said – in which situations have you been able to feel this strengthening bond?
Almost every day I encounter situations where this happens, where people help and support each other. They are touching moments. Moments when you wouldn’t even think it possible, for which people often sacrifice themselves quietly, silently, without staging or patting themselves on the back, and go beyond their limits. I was allowed to accompany sisters from the order “Mother Theresa of Calcutta” in their search for neglected homeless people in the city of Budapest. People who lead an existence worse than any violated animal. The sacrifice and gentleness with which these religious sisters restore dignity and hope to these condemned people makes this ribbon of humanity a ladder to heaven for me.
👉How do you manage not to lose faith in humanity?
I have never lost faith in humanity, thank God. Even in this so often and commonly used phrase “thank God”, there is my hope and unshakable faith. Knowing that we are made in the image of God, I am so firmly convinced that there is a divine spark in all of us that can transform any darkness into light, if only we let it.
How can we lose hope in humanity, knowing that there is a God who sent his own Son to our earth to save us? This is exactly what we are about to celebrate with great joy! Merry Christmas.
👩🏻🇺🇸 Mary Gonzalez
👉Where do you see humanity going?
The optimistic part of me wants to believe in technology and advances in medicine to ensure the strength and stability of humanity so that we can continue to make this planet a better place for previous generations. Another part of me knows and understands that we still have a long way to go due to a lot of ignorance, lack of support for the less fortunate and the destruction of the planet. I think you can live with either way of thinking, but I always remain hopeful.
👉Jimmy Carter once said, “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the division caused by our fears and prejudices” – in which situations have you been able to feel this strengthening bond?
I think during the “Me Too movement” and the Black Lives Matter movement I felt more connected to the people around me than ever before. Informing myself and having open conversations within my community felt powerful, and I felt like things were at least changing for the better. Shining a spotlight on these issues, having the difficult conversations with loved ones and in the workplace, felt so important and surprised me in ways I hadn’t expected myself. It made me even hungrier to keep fighting for those who don’t have a voice and to understand that we still have so much to do.
👉How do you manage not to lose faith in humanity?
I think the younger generations are really inspiring with their knowledge and progressive upbringing, what it means to have less prejudice in the world. I think every generation has the hope to be better than the previous one, and it excites me to see such inspired thinking and ideas from those much younger than me. It gives me a feeling of hope and gratitude.
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