Notebook: Happiness and Development

Human rights may be the luxury of a rich and secure society. Only in such societies can one contemplate happiness. Perhaps where the happiness is not defined by freedom from hunger and fear, the abstraction can be debated. Yet many a philosopher has postulated that wealth and security are the results of human rights in the sense that the fruits of a full stomach and security in one's person are the realization of one's maximum contribution to society. And a society where every member is contributing maximally to the best of his or her ability is one that is rich and secure. Kind of circular.

So on the upside of this circle, we debate the violation of one's physical integrity. Maybe this explains why Ugandans and Zimbabweans are said to be rushing to get circumcised, absent any real security and in the midst of plenty of hunger. And so it all comes back to development. The citizens of those countries and others will accept anything on the downside of the circle because they frankly don't have that much to lose. With low life expectancies, loss of sexual tissue for the off chance that life may be extended is an easy choice easily exploited by the likes of Halperin, Klausner, and Bailey.

But we in the West have plenty to lose. And so many of us will not accept circumcision. And so Richard Duncker, trustee of NORM-UK, gives us his take on happiness once violated by infant circumcision.

Link: Are you happy? Richard Duncker, yoga teacher & trustee, Norm-UK | Weekend | Guardian Unlimited.