Dignity...

" When people begin to ignore human dignity, it will not be long before they begin to ignore human rights." G K Chesterton

In this fast food, " give it to me now " culture we have lost, at times , the dignity that surrounds us. But, you can find it if you slow down . I have seen it in the tired eyes of older Punjabi men who greet me with a slight bow as I walk down 7th avenue
in Mission. It can be traced to the slight smile a mother gives her child when she has just finished straightening up the clothes of her offspring before they enter a store. It is seen in the faces of people quietly queued up for days for desperate medical care in the third world as we fume when our doctor's appointment makes us wait for 20 minutes. Finally , I see it in the eyes of an old student who returns to say thank you for an interaction or session we had that unbeknownst to me was an
important moment for them. Their return and that thank you is of much greater worth and dignity than the thing for which they have thanked me. Aristotle said that " Dignity does not consist in possessing honours, but in deserving them. "
This is for all those people out there who would never claim dignity, but in large measure have often lived it...