In 2006, the resident representatives of the Han River Mansion inYongsan-gu decided to block the 9 basements in which stray cats liveand to detain them in the basements so that they could not come out.
Itwas simply because cats touched the electricity facilities and smelledbad in the basement. When many cats were waiting in the basement forstarving, people who feed the cats near the Hangang mansion gatheredand convinced the representatives to open the basement door and finallycould rescue the cats. As a result of this incident, Seoul MetropolitanGovernment actively carried out TNR, which was the first attempt, toestablish an opportunity to make way for cats to live peacefully withpeople.Through the incident, I have come to believe that the fight for the weakand protecting their lives is one of the most important social value andworth to do. The weak will not necessarily be human. It could be a polarbear losing the roots of life, or a raccoon or mink that is peeled alive byhuman’s selfishness.There are three main reasons why we should voices to protect therights of the weak. First, it is hard for the weak to claim their own rights.
Second, there is no eternal power in social relations and anyone can bethe weak who needs help. Third, life is an absolute right to be protected.I will explain the first reason in more detail – the weak can not claimtheir own rights. Why the weak cannot claim their own rights? Twosituations can be assumed : One is there is no awareness of rights andthe other is there is a recognition of rights but no power to attain it.The weak are less aware of their rights than others because they areaccustomed to being persecuted or ignored. That is why they can nothave the enjoyment of their rights and a proper protest against theinfringement.
“The law does not protect those who sleep on the right,”said German lawyer Rudolf von Jhering in his book ?The Struggle forRights?. It explains the situation of the real world well. In the realworld, the weak are not protected by the law because they do not knowtheir rights.In addition, even if the weak recognize their rights, they often can notenjoy the rights because of various social constraints or discrimination.
For example, it is hard for non-regular female employees to protest totheir male superior about sexual harassment in workplace. The sexscandal of Harvey Weinstein would be a good example of it.Therefore, regardless of their awareness of their own rights, we shouldhelp them to voice themselves for their rights and make our society heartheir low voices.Secondly, fighting for the weak is also for me. There is no absolutelyimmortal power in our society. Depending on your status in the group towhich you belong, or depending on the relationship you have, you maybecome strong or weak. Even in the case of lovers generally whoserelationship is considered to be the most equal, there is a saying”Someone who loves more will put himself in low position in theirrelationship.”In this unequal and fast changing society, fighting for the weak is like afight for myself.
If the cultures that support the weak and care for themare prevalent in the society, no one will be hurt by the inequality of thepower.Finally, most important and controversial reason is that life is anabsolute right to be protected. There are many rights to the weak wehave to fight for. Among them, right to life is the most important right.
Without life, we could enjoy no rights. Everyone will agree with it.However, this right is controversial because it is not allowed to everyoneand every situation, even though it is the most important andfundamental right for all living things. If we look around we can see thefoods we eat are made from living things, whether animals or plants.If so, what is the guarantee of life rights? The guarantee of the right tolife for the weak should be as wide as possible. The violation of the rightto life by hate and hatred should be forbidden unconditionally, and if thelife of another is necessary for the survival of the human being, the actshould not be as cruel as possible.
For the beautiful fur, there should beno more animals dying from peeling their skin alive, struggling in pain.Over the years humanity has repeated many mistakes and learnedmany lessons. The experience of World War I and World War II, thehumanity extermination and genocide enabled much reflection on this.However, it is too early to be relieved. If you want to make the terribleevents like the Jewish massacre or the killing field do not happen again,you should be able to fight for the rights of the weak at any time.
Pleaserecall the example from the beginning of this article. And also think ofmany people who risked their lives to protect them in the Jewishmassacre. What changes they made and how they changed the world.If you can always fight for the weak, that action will change societybenevolently.
