We Can Be People Who Imagine
As we bring 2025 to a close, I again invite us to be people who imagine – not the worst that is possible but the best.
I want to reflect that December 10 is celebrated internationally as Human Rights Day. 2025 is the 77th anniversary of the announcement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On that day seventy-seven years ago, the world was still reeling from the destruction of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust.
On December 10, 2025, the human rights of thousands of people, even in the United States, are still being violated! How many of the rights enumerated below are being violated by American citizens today?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights identifies thirty human rights:
1) the right to Equality
2) freedom from Discrimination
3) the right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security
4) freedom from Slavery
5) freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment
6) the right to Recognition as a Person before the Law
7) the right to Equality before the Law
8) the right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal
9) freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile
10) the right to Fair Public Hearing
11) the right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty
12) freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
13) the right to Free Movement in and out of the Country
14) the right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution
15) the right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change Nationality
16) the right to Marriage and Family
17) the right to Own Property
18) freedom of Belief and Religion
19) freedom of Opinion and Information
20) the right of Peaceful Assembly and Association
21) the right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections
22) the right to Social Security
23) the right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions
24) the right to Rest and Leisure
25) the right to Adequate Living Standard
26) the right to Education
27) the right to Participate in the Cultural Life of Community
28) the right to a Social Order that Articulates this Document
29) Community Duties Essential to Free and Full Development
30) freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights
In the Foreword to the book Imagine, Yoko Ono wrote about her late husband’s song. She said that John “wrote ‘Imagine’ as a song calling for peace around the world. Today, we need peace more than ever, so I think his words are still very important.”
“Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us. Above us, only sky.
Imagine all the people living for today.
Imagine there’s no countries.
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.
Imagine all the people sharing all the world.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us, And the world will live as one.”
The Afterword to the book Imagine, written by Amnesty International, thanks Jean Jullian Lennon for his artistry in illustrating this song by his father and Yoko Ono for giving permission to use the words of John Lennon’s song.
Amnesty International reminds us of the importance of looking after the precious freedoms we call human rights first proclaimed in 1948 by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the rights I have just listed.
What more powerful and beautiful gift could we give than the rights listed above to every human in our country and every human on our planet?
What could be more sacred than embracing the vision of Lennon’s song at this time of year?
