by YOU


Last week, Rob printed Toronto astrologer Richard Geer's summation of our Divine Rights on this good green Earth. Richard had determined that the following are essential:


* Emotional Health. Not just healing our psychological wounds, but also fostering the art of happiness.
* Aesthetic Enjoyment. Big doses of beauty all around!
* Physical Health. Not only the medical care we need, but the safeguarding of what we eat, drink, and breathe.
* Freedom of Lifestyle. No oppression by abusive employers or tyrannical relatives or funless mentalists.
* Erotic Health. Wiping out rape and sexual harassment, as well as unnecessary loneliness and deadness of heart.
* Community. A network of like-minded folks who appreciate and support you.

What, we wondered, would you add to this list?

"Maybe it's not a divine right, but it is a nice idea," murmurs MMM, who suggests:

* Forgiveness: "Being able to truly let go of the pain others bring upon us, and, almost more importantly, being able to forgive ourselves, regardless of religion or guilt or whatever baggage we have telling us we are bad people. We should be allowed only a small mourning period, an immediate understanding of our wrongs and how to right them, and then we should be able to -- paraphrasing Edna St. Vincent Millay -- write our sins in the sand and let the tide wash them away."

PAULA adds,
* Free and open access to Nature: "We have the right to a healthy planet, environmental protection, and free access to all, regardless of economic means, to our forests, rivers, deserts, mountains and oceans."

While JENNIFER responds,
* Creativity "needs to be in there somewhere. The unfettered space to express ourselves creatively; and unconditional community support for the artists who make our lives bearable."

And CHERYL suggests,
* Education Rights: "That we have the right to educated our minds on any subject that improves our mind for the purpose that we choose, whether it be personal, just for fun, or for profit."

LEILA insists that,
"It is vital to have at least one good enemy who will challenge you, drive you to honest self exploration and disagree with you and make your life miserable so you can wipe out your negative karma."

"I would add spiritual belief," writes BERNICE.

"Libraries filled with truth, imagination, inspiration, wit, humor, and ideas!" crows ALISON.

MCD demands the giddy freedom to "pee on a bush at night after a concert."

While PEDRO holds dear the right to "intellectual stimulation and curiosity."

WEICHI supposes that there should be Divine reckoning that "all control freaks be transported far beyond the Northern Sea."

While VIVIAN would like "freedom from conformity, the right to be yourself."

And SAM exalts the ability to "insist on the right to really good stories, the kind that exercise the full range of human emotion."

* Respect Life instructs JEN. "Find light within ourselves, recognize the light in others, and tolerate individualism. If one can learn to respect oneself and those around, then the connectedness to the tribe would vibrate loud and clear. Then we could hear the earth and her vibe and learn to respect her."

And finally, JAQUITH envisions the right "To see beauty in an old, rotting stump; in the wings of an insect; in a car crunched and broken in an auto recycling lot; and then to look up at the electric blue sky and see beauty in the clouds being embraced by the wind. To see beauty where there is none -- in the eyes of an old woman, almost gone from dementia, and know that once those eyes were young and full of hope; in the eyes of a young retarded boy who hugs his caretaker with such joy because he knows that she sincerely loves him.

"To know that every angry thought, every fear, every hatred, every violent deed, holds a seed of love that was betrayed or hurt, a justice that was never done. To know that Christ really was right when he said to turn the other cheek, love your enemies, judge not lest you be also judged, and to love yourself and others and the Big Good."