She Said: She Said: As simple as holding a door open

Basic human rights and freedoms need not be constrained to the workings of governmental muckety-mucks. Whereas treaties such as the Magna Carta, or, more recently, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, sound at once both wonderful and unobtainable, we individuals do have the power to actualize human integrity. Sometimes, reaching this goal can be as simple as holding open a door.

"Doors" can be either literal or figurative. Palpable doors are the barriers we close, mindlessly, when someone else is also trying to enter a building or a room. Whereas such structures are meant to separate, being merely sheaths of wood or of metal, they make no distinction between exclusion and inclusion; it is us who, when charging through our days, forget the needs of the school child, of the elderly man, or of the package-laden messenger just a few paces behind us.

We can interfere with "doors" that are symbolic, rather than tactile, too. When we slam a student, shut out a youth, close ourselves to an employee, or otherwise forget that there are degrees of empowerment among the social strata, and that such differences are neither ignored nor unfelt by most persons, we are creating unnecessary gaps amongst ourselves. As individuals, who have authority, in a given situation, we necessarily also have responsibility for maintaining that portion of our greater social fabric. Freedoms are not something we can purchase at the neighborhood franchise or limit ourselves to sing about at political rallies; freedoms result from the negotiation of human interactions. Freedoms require constant maintenance.

Even in this era of big promises by big officials, it is the little moments that have the potential to create and to enhance our liberties. Next time you are monitoring a door, consciously or otherwise, consider holding it open.

-Channie

Life rushes by.  One day I was happily putting on my new purple glitter "jelly" shoes for kindergarten, and the next day I was in my cap and gown, graduating from eighth grade. Before I knew it, I was preparing the scenery for my high school's twelfth grade show, and, today, here I am, doing Sherut Leumi (National Service).

Although my life feels as though it has gone by quickly, I never would have gotten to where I am without help. Most of the changes I have made were guided by mentors. I feel as though I usually had someone holding a door open for me as I passed through. My entrances were not always graceful, and sometimes I tried to keep one foot in a previous room, but the pushes I received from my life teachers and their explanations of what could be found behind new doors often helped my passage.

All of us are presented with doors daily. Sometimes we've created them and sometimes others made them. Either way, the rooms beyond those doors represent the next part of our personal growth. Just because some doors don’t have our names on them doesn't mean we can't try to open them. At times, it takes a brick to keep a door open. Other times heavy baggage helps.  Most times, if a door closes, two open. Always, it’s useful to try them. In the process of trying them, we might not only find them open, but we might also learn how to choose among them.

Life's easiest paths are not always the best ones. The first openings we find are not always the only ones. Sure, it's scary to go through an unfamiliar portal, but it's better to test the unknown than to get stuck in a room. Life is for living.

-Becca