Equals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes. Although we probably do not all understand equality in the same way. The range of answers that each person reading these lines might offer would, in itself, reveal just how different we are. This is a somewhat unconventional piece, intended simply as an invitation to reflect on what unites us at a time when so many efforts are directed at dividing us through hatred. In a world of so many differences, where people are indeed so distinct from one another, my proposal is to place at the center the shared dignity that makes us equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allow me to offer the following illustration. When a couple decides to expand their family and have, in this case, three children, each child is a person in their own right: an individual with not only the capacity and the right, but also the responsibility, to make the decisions that will render their life truly their own, distinct from the lives of the other members of the family. Within that universe of decisions, actions, personalities, and ways of being, and amid so many differences, none of them ever loses one shared status: that of being a child of the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This status is inherent and inalienable. In other words, it belongs to each of them simply by virtue of having been born into that family, and it cannot be taken away. As a direct consequence of this shared status, each has the same right to be recognized and treated as a full member of the family. This does not mean that all three are identical, that they need the same things, or that they must receive exactly the same treatment in every circumstance. Rather, it means that none of their differences permits one to be regarded as less of a child than the others, assigned lesser value, or excluded from that which belongs to them equally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is evident, without wishing to oversimplify, that a newborn baby needs to be breastfed at certain intervals, while a sixteen-year-old requires a much more substantial plate of food than a nine-year-old. Even so, something intuitive, natural, and profoundly moral makes it clear to the parents that none of the three may be excluded from the table or intentionally left without food. Their different needs justify giving them different portions; their shared status prevents any one of them from being considered less deserving of food, care, belonging, and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something similar is true of human dignity. We are not equal because we are identical, because we make the same decisions, or because we live in the same way. We are equal because, amid all our differences, every person possesses the same intrinsic worth simply by virtue of being human. That dignity is not earned as a reward for behaving in a particular way; it does not depend on the approval of the majority, nor can it be withdrawn when someone's existence, choices, or identity cause discomfort. Like the shared status of the three children, dignity is inherent and inalienable: it belongs to us, and no one can legitimately strip us of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The promise of equality may sound utopian. Yet when we pause to reflect, we discover that it is not an aspiration detached from our reality. On the contrary, as the example of the family shows, this moral imperative not to exclude or draw distinctions in treatment without a legitimate reason is present in our everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something deep and profoundly human tells us that it would be unfair for a mother and father to take one of two similarly aged siblings on vacation while the other remains at home with their grandmother, if no reason justifies the difference. In the same way, we intuitively recognize the injustice of providing education and care to an eight-year-old while depriving the child's ten-year-old sibling of schooling and sending them to work in the fields. In both cases, what troubles us is not merely that the siblings are treated differently, but that the difference lacks a legitimate justification and places one of them in a position of inferiority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The foregoing reveals that, however theoretical and abstract it may appear in legal language, the concept of human dignity is not foreign to us. After all, it is the essential foundation of the promise of equality. Not only does our common humanity make us equal; equality itself also responds to something profoundly human. This is why, on many occasions, we can feel the injustice of discriminatory treatment even before we are able to explain rationally why it is unjust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The law did not invent that distinctly human moral intuition. What it did was translate it into a commitment binding on society as a whole: the dignity we recognize in ourselves must also be recognized in every other person. In doing so, it extended the logic of that family of five to encompass the entire human family, in which we must all be recognized as full members possessing equal dignity. Nor is this idea foreign to a society shaped predominantly by Christianity, whose tradition likewise invites us to recognize ourselves as children of the same Father and, therefore, as brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a time when hatred seeks to persuade us that some people deserve less because of their nationality, skin color, economic circumstances, beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ideas, defending equality requires us to remember an elementary truth: no difference can erase a person's dignity. We may disagree profoundly about how to live, how to think, or how to build a society. What we cannot do is turn that disagreement into permission to degrade, exclude, or dehumanize others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recognizing the dignity of others does not require us to understand every experience, approve every decision, or feel affection for every person. It requires something more basic and, at the same time, more difficult: accepting that rights are not rewards reserved for those who resemble us, live as we do, or have our approval. If dignity is truly inherent, it also belongs to those we find different, unsettling, or even deeply unpleasant. Otherwise, we would not be speaking of dignity as a right, but of privileges granted selectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the promise of equality will never consist in achieving a society without differences. And, truthfully, who would want to live in such a society? Perhaps the goal is instead to build a society in which those differences never determine who deserves a place at the table: a society capable of serving different portions when needs require it, yet incapable of accepting that someone be deliberately left without food. The promise will remain only a promise for as long as we allow some people to be excluded; it begins to become reality each time we recognize, without exception, that no one is less human, less worthy, or less deserving of rights than anyone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Esta es una entrega un tanto at\u00edpica, cuyo prop\u00f3sito no es m\u00e1s que hacer un llamado a la reflexi\u00f3n sobre aquello que nos une, en una \u00e9poca en la que tantos esfuerzos se dirigen a dividirnos mediante el odio.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":5826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-5825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-derechos-humanos"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5827,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5825\/revisions\/5827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elmitin.do\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}