Question

Why do you think the speaker says that her life was 'forever transformed' when she started to
serve the people of Liberia?
a voice of freedom​

Answer 1

Answer:

                                    A Voice for Freedom!

Your Majesties, Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Nobel Laureates, my brothers and sisters: On behalf of all the women of Liberia, the women of Africa, and women everywhere in the world who have struggled for peace, justice and equality, I accept with great humility the 2011 Nobel Prize for Peace. I am particularly honored to be a successor to the several sons and one daughter of Africa who have stood on this stage – Chief Albert John Lutuli, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, Kofi Annan, Anwar el-Sadat, Wangari Muta Maathai, Mohamed ElBaradei, as well as Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Bunche, Americans of African descent. Your Majesties: I begin with a message to you and, through you, to the people of Norway. Your country faced a tragedy earlier this year with the murder of 77 people. It was a deliberate assault on the very heart of your society. Yet, in the face of such adversity, the response at every level of public and private Norwegian life has been consistent with your historic adherence to the values of openness, integrity and justice. For this, the world admires you and all of the citizens of this great country. I offer you the deepest sympathy of the people of Liberia for the loss of life and I extend to you our profound respect. There will be failures along the way, for the world will not change overnight. But we have seen change in our lifetimes, and the world will continue to change in ways that affect us all. As inscribed on the wall of the memorial to Nobel Laureate Martin Luther King, Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Your Excellencies, brothers and sisters: From this global platform, I want to speak for a moment of Liberia and to Liberians. On November 8th, we concluded our second successive free and fair presidential and legislative elections, consolidating Liberia’s transformation into a stable, democratic nation. The Liberian people did me the great honor of re-electing me as their President to serve for another six-year term, allowing me to build on the foundations we started in 2006. The electoral battle was hard-fought among several contenders, requiring a run-off contest. The process was not without its challenges, and a single and regrettable incident marred an otherwise peaceful and celebrated national achievement. As I stand here today, with sadness in my heart for the injured and the life lost, I truly hope that our nation will become stronger from our recent experience. Liberia’s continued progress depends on policies and programs that invest in people and strengthen democratic institutions, while remaining grounded in the rule of law. Most importantly, they must stand the test of time. They must not be dependent on any one leader or any one political party. We must build space and respect for opposition voices; they are not the losers in our open society, but an essential component to strengthened accountability in government. Throughout our political campaign, we heard the cry of our young population that they are impatient for their lives to improve. They want to make up for the time and opportunities lost during years of conflict and deprivation. They want better education, useful skills and jobs. They want to contribute to the rebuilding of their country. They have found their voices, and we have heard them. As nations around the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, transition to representative democracy, we are reminded that the struggle for human rights and social justice is a difficult journey. It requires our voices, many voices. Our shared sacrifices are essential to achieve the justice that we seek.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen :  It was exactly 63 years ago today that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That document, the legacy of a generation that had just emerged from the horrors of a devastating World War, remains of great significance to us today. It is a Declaration that is universal. It speaks of rights that all humans have simply by virtue of being human. These rights are not given to us by governments, which might revoke them at their pleasure. It is a Declaration that is legal, not a list of benevolent aspirations. It obligates States, even in their treatment of their own citizens, to observe, and to uphold, those universal rights and freedoms that belong to us all. Today’s decoration of three women with the highest universal Peace Prize must not be a passing historic moment. We must look upon this event as a milestone in the inexorable march toward the achievement of a genuine and lasting peace. Let me close by reiterating my deepest gratitude to the Norwegian Nobel Committee for this great honor, and I express my profound thanks to all of you gathered here for your work in the service of peace and human dignity.