A Kinder Dignity

It's a great word to say out loud and repeat.

Dignity. Dignity. Try different intonations and variations. But what does it mean?

I found the following definitions of dignity on the Web at wordnet.princeton,edu/perl/webwn:

"the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect; formality in bearing and appearance;high office or rank or station"

And there is a lot of talk about dignity. We turn phrases such as "worthy of dignity" "that's not dignified" "if he had any dignity, he wouldn't - " and then we foist our assumptions about a way to be worthy of dignity onto others, a right way to bear ourselves or appear and to whom belongs the right to hold a rank or station in life so as to be considered "dignified".

Lately I've found all this distasteful. I much prefer using the term human dignity, one that is attributable to every person. This is not a type of dignity that has to be earned. One doesn't have to appear a certain way or bear oneself in a certain manner to have it. Nor can one buy, politicize or otherwise claw one's way to get it.

Everyone just has it because he or she is human. And, even more importantly, no one person's dignity is better than anyone else's. Nobody has to be able to contribute, work or produce anything to have dignity. It's innate. And it can't be taken away. This kind of dignity doesn't care what you look like, talk like or even if you can talk. You're born with it simply by being - human.

And that is a birthright we all deserve.