Last week, one day shy of your tenth month, you took five bold unassisted steps and asserted your right to rule over your own life. You then sat down and embraced your stuffed playmate in celebration. When I heard of your accomplishment, I had been pondering on the meaning of what is human and civil and right, but the more I delved into the subject, the more confused I became. Where had human rights gone? I couldn’t find them anywhere. I looked for them in history books but found the rights of man, not of woman. I read the old philosophers but their republics were predicated on enslaving the others. I sought the counsel of academics but they would tie themselves into knots instead of tying the loose ends for me. The holy men were too busy trying to claim righteousness for themselves to see what was right or wrong. I tried navigating on the internet but got lost in the highways and byways of cyberspace. So I decided to go to you and sit down on the floor to talk about what is human and civil and right.

For starters, you were born free. Never forget that. You were born in a birthing room in the middle of Kansas in the middle of a vast land known as The United States of America. Some people claim it is the centre of the world, but it is not. The centre of the world is actually right here, where you and I happen to be, but it is also out there, where everybody else happens to be. In the middle of this land there is a cornfield so vast that the wind whirls over it, swooping down on people and carrying them away to magical places. But more on that later.

You were born into a family, but you do not belong to them. They are merely custodians of your life until your feet become steady and you can fix your gaze on the distant horizon. Remember, nobody has the right to step on your feet or block your view.

One of your American ancestors ran for the presidency, but he did not succeed, which is just as well, because he would have been very disillusioned to learn how lesser men than him have since sullied the high office for which he ran so proudly. One of your Indian ancestors tried to run the invaders away from his land, but he too did not succeed, which is also just as well, because independence came when the time was ripe. But he would have also been very disillusioned to learn how lesser men than him have since trampled on the very rights for which he fought so hard. So you see, no one has the right to rule over others without their consent. Authority can only be earned, never appropriated.

One of your Belgian ancestors was called “femme nature” because she believed that a woman’s body should not be encased, or painted or deformed. She also refused to be guilt-tripped by her church into submission knowing that her conscience was her temple. So when in doubt, trust your own conscience.

Your mother chose to endure pain rather than flood your tiny body with toxic chemicals. Your father supported her in her bid to protect you. No establishment can tell you what is good for you. Only you can.

There is a multitude of thoughts in my head crashing head-on into each other, as I sit with you on the floor and hear you gurgle. I cannot begin to explain them to you, because I do not understand them myself. How can a government deprive its citizens of their liberty in order to “preserve their liberty”? How can entire nations be turned into jails to prevent them from suffering at the hands of an invisible enemy hidden out there in a secret cave? How can armies bulldoze entire settlements to protect the people’s homelands? How can grownups exploit the children they have been entrusted to protect? How can men show their love for women by violating their bodies or cutting short their lives? How can women be free if they don’t stand up for themselves? How can water be diverted from its source, not to quench parched lips, but to green the playgrounds of the rich so they can try to push a small white ball into a hole in the ground? How can a government stop people from reading a book which won the author an award from another government for it to be read by humanity at large? How can the people who once roamed freely over hills and valleys be jailed for doing what is the birthright of all wild creatures? How can we derive pleasure from treating people like things without becoming things ourselves? How can we destroy nature which is a part of ourselves?

I cannot explain my doubts because I suddenly feel old and tired. You cannot answer them because you are young and untried. When you become a little bit older I will tell you how Dorothy was carried away in the eye of a tornado and dropped in the Land of the Wizard of Oz. There she became friends with the scarecrow who needed a brain, the tin man who was pining for a heart, and the lion who misplaced his courage in his mane.

Mariana, even though you do not have the words to understand my meaningless drivel, you know what I am talking about. You know what is human and civil and right because you have a brain to understand, a heart to feel and the courage to dare. You have already taken five bold steps to meet the unknown and you have found out that she is a lesser woman than you.