Class 12 English Unit 14 Human Rights

“Forgiving is not forgetting; it is actually remembering-remembering and not using your right to hit back. It’s a second chance for a new beginning” is one of the famous quotes of Desmond Tutu. Forgiveness is the profound way to release feelings of vengeance toward a person or group who harmed us, no matter if they deserve forgiveness or not. It is not to deny the seriousness of an offense against us or it doesn’t mean forgetting the abuse.

Here in the text, even if the author is willing to apologize and seek peace, he is still fundamentally a victim of his father’s domestic violence. He remembers the deep pain his father had given to his mother. He naturally wanted to hurt his father back in his childhood. But later in life, he forgives his father, justifying and understanding that his father’s rude behavior was largely a psychological byproduct of the mistreatment of white people to black people in South Africa. Therefore, forgiving is not forgetting; rather, it is actively remembering and choosing not to use it to hit back.

Committing mistakes are an inevitable part of human life. But accepting it and apologizing for it is often the hardest task. In the text, the author interprets “I am sorry” as the three hardest words to say. Empathy is the vital ability to put ourselves in another person’s shoes and feel what they feel. This is something we critically need to develop. It takes humility. Too often, we are deeply preoccupied with our own feelings and pride. Empathy is the recognition that it’s not all about us. Other people matter. They have feelings, too, and those feelings are important. By saying we are sorry—sincerely and with authentic humility—we validate them as human beings.

For me, the three words “I am sorry” are the hardest words to say when I hurt others. Instead of saying sorry, I often remain aloof to those who have been hurt by me and don’t go close to them to talk again. I don’t talk and be close to them unless they come to speak to me first. I am so much a proud and sensitive person. I easily get hurt by others and feel sad, and I wish them to come close to me and say “sorry.” But I sometimes never realize how much they are affected by my own misbehavior. I feel very uneasy and difficult to say, “I am sorry.” Thus, as a matter of pride, fear of being shameful, lack of self-awareness, a sense of superiority, or an overwhelming emotion of guilt makes it incredibly hard to say the three words “I am sorry”.

(Here is an essay written by Kushal:)

Nepal has come a long way in attempting to improve equity in education. In most countries, factors like income, geography, gender, language, and disability heavily contribute to inequitable access and high drop-out rates. Nepal’s education system has faced many profound problems since the mid-1800s. The first formal education system in Nepal was only available to elite, ruling families, and common Nepali people did not have access to education until 100 years later in the 1950s. Current-day education in Nepal is still in the developing stage and is divided sharply into well-funded private schools for the rich and underfunded public schools for the poor.

To illustrate the issues that Nepal’s public school systems face, children first need access to basic infrastructure like clean drinking water while they attend school as well as at home. The lack of infrastructure and trained teachers results in the children having difficulty concentrating and comprehending the material at hand. Thus, combined with childhood malnutrition in Nepal, children in public schools do not have a fair advantage to performing well and tend to fall behind or drop out of school entirely.

Given these facts, Nepal’s school system is indeed continuing to develop, but there is still limited quality access. In Nepal, there is an additional factor of caste and ethnicity which further aggravates this situation. While the caste system was legally abolished in the 1960’s, its cultural legacy continues to impact the population for many years thereafter, and people considered low-caste are often economically and socially disadvantaged. To make education equal to all citizens, the government must aggressively increase funding for public schools, ensure that the curriculum is standard across both private and public sectors, and provide mandatory, well-paying incentives for highly qualified teachers to teach in rural, public institutions.