I just looked at Roget’s Thesaurus and it states that dignity, among other descriptives also means excellence, respectability, and self-respect. The word dignified means noble, extraordinary, and upright. Nobility refers to status or rank, but has no less value than dignity. You were born with dignity however; it is up to you to be dignified. You are a noble person and you are worthy of and entitled to the highest form of esteem. No one can take that from you regardless of the situation.
You should not feel responsibility for someone else’s words or actions against you if you have been noble and dignified. Your self respect and self esteem are related to how you value yourself and how you feel your self worth. You are worthy of eminent and humane treatment regardless of your actions. That is not to say that you should be arrogant or “high brow”. Everyone that you encounter should feel that same sense of dignity when you engage them. Self respect is the highest form of self love. Remember that you can only give to others what you have therefore; you can only give true love or respect when you love and respect yourself.
There are some very extreme and poignant examples of attacks on the dignity of people. The hurt or kill another human being is the highest. Imagine the dignity and self respect demonstrated in the following story.
A Supreme Act of Forgiveness
During the Korean War, the North Koreans had overrun a small village in the south where there was a children’s orphanage. As the North Koreans swept through the village, they interrogated all of the men to determine if there were any spies among them. One man, the most passive among them, openly talked of his disapproval of his villager’s treatment. They were not being treated with the dignity that they were entitled to. A young North Korean officer was swift to place this man before a firing squad but discovered that he was the director of the orphanage. Instead, he had the director’s son shot.
Soon after the war was over, the young officer was brought before a War Crimes Tribunal. There were enough eye witnesses of his crime that the judges unanimously convicted him of the crime and condemned him to capital punishment. The father, whose son was murdered, protested and asked the court to allow the former officer into the father’s home so that he may provide consolation. The court agreed.
The young former officer was accepted into the home and taken in as a son, working and assisting at the orphanage. Before many years had passed, the young man converted to the faith of his new family and today he is one of the most respected clergy in South Korea.
This story exemplifies different virtues but it also demonstrates how, when we have the highest form of self respect and dignity, we can feel compassion and respect for someone else who has wronged us. Regardless of how others treat us, our first responsibility is to our own self respect. Our self esteem and self worth is paramount before we can be compassionate toward others even in extreme circumstances.
No one can ever take your self respect or self worth from you in any situation.