Dignity
by Michael Feeley
Say the word dignity slowly. Notice what happens. Something in you straightens. Something settles. The word goes right to your center, because that is where dignity lives.
Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of Acumen, has spent her life building a world of dignity. She puts it simply: “We yearn to be seen. In other words, we yearn for dignity.” That means dignity isn’t something we stumble upon. We build it on purpose, in how we listen, lead, and treat the person in front of us.
Dignity is the right to be respected because you are a human being. Not because of your title, your bank account, your age, your race, your religion, or your résumé. It is intrinsic. Non-negotiable. You were born with it, and no one can award it or revoke it.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says it plainly: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
Dignity is also a practice. It asks us to empathize, to stand in another person’s shoes, to feel what they feel, to see what they see. The cashier. The job seeker who has been passed over again. The elder who is overlooked. Each one carries the same worth you do.
We all hope to be treated with full dignity wherever we are and in whatever we are doing.
So let’s offer it first.
Today, notice dignity. Protect it where you see it threatened. Build it where it’s missing. And then spread it around, in generous amounts, to everyone you meet.
People are at the center of dignity. So are you.
Thanks – Michael (he, him)
Please share this Daily.
This counts too – Value, Respect and Gratitude are One.
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