The Tree of Rights: With due respect to the Author of "The Monkey and the Turtle"

THE MONKEY AND THE TURTLE.
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"The Monkey and the Turtle found a fallen banana tree and they decided to halve it, with the Monkey trying to outwit the Turtle, telling him to get the lower half, because it has roots and that it will surely grow, with him taking the upper half, that which has leaves, thinking that he got the better part since it was the upper part and would soon produce fruit! But it turned out that the humble Turtle got the better part because the lower half had roots which helped the banana tree to grow and bear fruit in due time. However, since the Turtle cannot go up the banana tree to enjoy his fruit, he has to rely on the help of the Monkey who eagerly acceded to the request but instead of taking the bananas down, he ate them while up on the banana tree, throwing the peelings to the poor owner of the fruit. The Turtle put thorns on the tree so that when the Monkey went down after having his fill of the bananas, he got punctured and even got angry. He looked for the Turtle but he was nowhere to be found. The Monkey got tired and sat upon a coconut shell. His tail got inside the shell and suddenly he got bitten: the Turtle was hiding there! The Monkey threatened the Turtle of burning him but the Turtle just smiled and said at last he would become mestizo. The Monkey changed his mind and said that he would cut the Turtle to pieces to which the Turtle simply said that it would be great for he would grow in number. The Monkey thought that it would be a greater problem for him then. So he just told the Turtle that he would throw the Turtle into the river to which the Turtle immediately responded with a prayer that the Monkey does not proceed with the plan for he, the Turtle, would be drowned. The Monkey then threw the Turtle at once into the river. Upon touching the water, the Turtle laughed aloud; the Monkey was outwitted for the Turtle could swim." 

We could get a lesson from this story in relation to Rights and their protection. The roots stand for the most important one, the Right to Life, for without the Right to Life, nothing else could follow. The tree or trunk stand for the Right to Freedom, for it links Life with its goal, Happiness. It is only after Life and Freedom can man pursue Happiness, which is represented by the leaves. The fruit represents succeeding Rights which flow from the three fundamental Rights: Life, Liberty or Freedom, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The people who would like to make a short cut, that is, to enjoy the fruits without regard for the roots, are like the Monkey who tried to outwit the Turtle. The Turtle represents the people who accept the fact that without roots, that is, the Right to Life, there could be no fruits, that is, other rights. 

The Monkeys in our society want only to enjoy the Fruits, that is, the Secondary Rights, of what the Turtles did, the nourishment of the Tree, that is the Fundamental Rights. For while the Turtles nourish the Roots, that is, protect and fight for the Right to Life in all its stages and forms, the Monkeys do not care for their eyes are merely focused on the Fruits, that is, the enjoyment of the Secondary Rights. It doesn't matter for them how the Fruits got there, how they are able to enjoy Secondary Rights, important thing is that it is already there and that they have the capability to get them while the Turtles do not. 

The Monkeys in our Society are the ones in power. They are the ones making the policies, implementing and protecting them. Even if the Turtles do everything to be heard, the Monkeys won't listen for they are already on top and they only throw the leftovers to the Turtle, that is, they make other policies which they hope to appease the Turtles with, even if these are not the ones that the Turtles want to get, in relation to the enjoyment of the fruits. 

So the Turtles can only put thorns on the base of the trunk, that is, remind the Monkeys that Freedom isn't absolute, that Freedom is only Freedom when expressed in accordance with the Roots, that is, with the most fundamental right of all, the Right to Life. The Monkeys get hurt because of this and they look for the Turtles threatening them with being Burned or Cut, that is, being Persecuted for not conforming to what the Monkeys think and do. However, the Turtles know that even if they are finally thrown into the River, or killed for what they believe in, they shall be able to Swim away from the Monkeys, that is, have their Salvation for death is the entrance to eternal life. For the Monkeys, since they disregard the importance of the Roots, they will surely experience the death of their Tree. 

While on earth the Turtles have to remain fighting so that when they get thrown into the River, they shall truly reap the reward of their labor.