Human Dignity

Human dignity is not something that you have to earn but is freely given to you when you enter the world. When you receive it you automatically have been given the right to be respected. In my service at the Church of the Resurrection religious eduction program I had first hand experience with people who emulate that quality and who are very worthy of respect. Dignity focuses on all life being sacred from the time you are born to the time you die. There were many examples of human dignity in the area that I had worked. One was the entire agency expects all who work and attend to treat others with respect. When I was doing my hours I witnessed people all around me showing the up-most respect for their fellow volunteers and the children attending the program. I also tried my hardest to do the same by caring about what I was doing and for those that I had helped to teach. Another example was a child in my classroom that was mentally retarded. I as an instructor had to show respect and do all that I could for this girl just like I would for any other kid in the class. If I needed to help her a little more than the other kids than that was my obligation. Just because she was different than the other kids in the way she learned, she still deserved the same amount of respect and patience I gave to everyone else in the class. 

A final example of when I witnessed the concept of human dignity was when a group of kids in class would continue to talk to one another even though they were asked to stop. I as an aide was responsible for keeping the peace in the classroom and when kids talked out, I was in charge of keeping them quiet. These kids were difficult to deal with but I could not lose my focus on trying to quiet them. I had to do it politely and courteously even though they would talk often. Overall just because some of the kids in the class took extra time to learn or not able to keep quiet, I treated them with the same amount of respect as I would the 'perfect' student of the class.