Human Rights Tattoo

Have you ever heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? It's a Declaration that contains 30 Human Rights. I first read it during college and I kind of fell in love. I'm a fan! Can you be a fan of a piece of text? No? Well, I don't care, I just am! I think my favourite articles are numbers 1 and 3 (and can't seem to pick just one, it's a tie, I love both):

Article 1.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Article 3.

"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."

Yesterday I heard about a pretty awesome project that is going on: Human Rights Tattoo. It's an art project to create awareness about Human Rights. The goal is "[...] to tattoo the complete text of the Declaration on individuals, letter by letter. The complete text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains 6773 letters. Each person gets one character. This means that in the end, there is a group of 6773 people from all around the world walking together with the complete text of the Declaration of Human Rights." Isn't it cool?

"Having a letter of the Human Rights Declaration means you are reminded of yours and everybody else’s rights. It is a way of putting your signature under the Declaration of Human Rights only this time a piece of the document is signed on you. You will carry it with you. For the rest of your life."

It could be a great way to remind yourself every day that life is actually pretty darn beautiful. You are free! Free to do and be whatever you want to be. Free to marry whomever you want or to not marry at all. Free to have whatever religion you like (or don't have one at all). Free to live where you want. Free to have and express whatever opinions you may have. Unfortunately, way too many people are not free and even their most basic Human Rights are constantly being violated. To be reminded about this every once in a while might help you see just how amazing your life actually is and that you shouldn't complain so much about all of the little things you think are wrong with it.

It just so happens that letters are being tattooed on people in my city this Saturday. I'm thinking I might get me one of those letters! Perhaps... maybe...