“If we all discharge our duties, rights will not be far to seek. If, leaving duties unperformed, we run after rights, they will escape us like a will-o-the-wisp.”
~ Gandhi, Young India, Jan. 8, 1925

Gandhi is not the only one to notice that the concept of “rights” can be tricky and runs the risk of delivering us into self-interest just when we think we are working for social justice. He even demurred at signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, saying he would wait for a declaration of human duties. Not because the struggle for human rights isn’t necessary, but because if we concerned ourselves with our responsibilities, not only would our rights be secured but the paradigm of human relationships would be restored in the process, so that it would be that much more difficult for anyone to take away the rights of another.

What’s your take on duties and rights? Tell us in the comments below.

About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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