I try to keep an open mind. Compassion can't be exercised without one, so I strive to understand the viewpoints of others as deeply as I can. Still, when a friend says, "I don't see why Martin Luther King Day should be a national holiday, or why human rights merit one," and wasn't the first to say so, I struggled.

   Monday wasn't just MLK Day; it was also Human Rights Day in Idaho. January 1947 marked the initial drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which outlines basic civil rights including marriage, voting, religion, and economic equality (many on which MLK also focused, leading to several changes in U. S. law now considered fundamental). This document was signed December of the following year, when most other states and nations celebrate Human Rights Day.

   To be honest, I hadn't encountered such a viewpoint until moving to Idaho from another state, so I spent the weekend exploring why. What I concluded is that this area is more uniform, with few immigrants and few international travelers, at least by comparison to other American regions. I believe this affects perspective; in a way, it reflects good fortune.

   Here's why that's vital: Human/civil rights seem less important to those who've never known what it's like not to have them. When you've had that privilege, rights are so ingrained, so "understood" in the subconscious they are a non-factor. When you've lived differently, as I have, you know how precious they are — how fundamental to everything else worth celebrating. Whether immigrant, a child of an immigrant, or just someone who lived in another country with oppressive laws (e.g., due to military assignment, work, or marriage), those who have experienced life where these rights — held standard by the Declaration and MLK — are not "understood" know that without them, the basics of life are not possible.

   So we value these rights above all else, because without them, all else becomes impossible. What could be more important to remember, to value? We value Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day; no one disputes the importance of keeping those who served honored and remembered, those who we say fought for our freedoms.

   It stands to reason that the freedoms they fought for should also be honored and remembered. The more we take them for granted, the more easily they slip away, eroded little by little in the name of security or protection. Oppression comes not only from outside national borders, but also from within.

   At the Spokane Chiefs game Saturday night (what a game!) my daughter asked me why I was crying. I usually do during the Anthem; I am always acutely conscious of certain freedoms I enjoy because I live here. But for a marital argument my mother won weeks before my birth, delaying our job-related move to Iran, I might not have them at all.

   So please, regardless of your opinions about national holidays, take a day at least once a year to remember all of the rights you enjoy. Millions in the world and billions throughout history have not been so fortunate.

   Sholeh Patrick is an attorney and a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email sholehjo@hotmail.com