BE RESPONSIBLE WITH YOUR RIGHTS

By Adrian Lee Chew, 23 March 2010.

Yep. Spiderman. How that one popped into my head at that moment God only knows. But I started talking about what Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker... and halfway through realised it was about superhuman powers and not rights (doh!) but too late, can't stop mid-sentence... so I improvised and said that Uncle Ben said "With great power comes great responsibility"... and told the students it's the same with rights. With more freedom and more rights, come greater responsibility.

So I stressed that having rights doesn’t mean you have total freedom to do whatever you like. We have to be responsible and think of others. I gave examples, using the stuff I talked about 2 weeks ago, eg Freedom of Expression..

That it doesn’t mean you can tell lies, say untrue things about your friend just because you don’t like your friend. You can express your opinion but doesn’t give you the right to say anything and everything you want. I said it is hurtful and unfair to the person who is subjected to this. I said in the world outside school, people can be brought to court to answer for these untruths. It's called slander. Defamation. Fitnah. So they have to be responsible with their rights.

Having the right to move around doesn’t give you a right to stand up in the middle of class when your teacher is teaching, walking out of the classroom and creating havoc in the next class. That's not what freedom of movement is about, what you are doing is disrupting other people's right to education, to come to school and to learn. You are disrupting your teacher's lessons. You are denying them the chance to be educated in a peaceful environment.

So rules are there for a reason.

And I pointed to all my team members. We were all dressed in court attire and I said look at me and my team. We're all wearing black and white. We have to do this otherwise we cannot go to court. It's the rule. We follow it. I asked them can you imagine what the courtroom will look like if we all go in dressed in whatever style we want. Slippers, sarongs, hats, singlets... how would the place look? It would be disrespectful to the institution of justice. Same thing with school. You come to school wearing a uniform to show that there is discipline. That we all belong to this place and we all respect each other's rights to come here and to be educated.

Even with the Right to Education. It doesn’t mean you are automatically entitled to a university degree just because you have the right to education, There are still rules. You have to study hard, get good results, then qualify for a place in a university, then study somemore, then take exams, then get your degree. These are rules and there are there for a reason.

So whether in school or outside - we have rules. In schools, it is school rules. Outside those gates, we have laws. We all have our freedoms but we must exercise those freedoms in ways that do not deprive others of their rights, or disrupt other people's lives.

You cannot say I have this right and I can do whatever I want. I have this right therefore I don’t care if I hurt you. I have this right so I can disrespect you. Rights come with responsibilities.

Rules remind us to be responsible.