Caring For Human Dignity

I love this quote from Theodor Seuss Geisel better known as Dr. Seus…"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not."

When a person cares they are saying that they value something or someone. To not care about what someone is doing or saying is to suggest that you do not find what they do or say as important.  When a person feels like what they do or say is not valued it tugs at their soul. I believe that the reason for this impact is that when we don’t care we are chipping away at the other person’s dignity.

The loss of respect for the inherent worth of each person is nothing to trifle with in our world today.  Our discourse suggests a concerning disregard for the dignity of others.  It shows up in subtle and overt ways.  One subtle way is through our selective caring.  The manager who cares more about their boss than their team, the doctor who cares more about their schedule than their patient.  Have you ever had this happen…a meeting is cancelled on your calendar minutes before it was to happen for the fourth time with no explaination. The overt ways are seen daily in the “whatever” approach in dialogue or the ghosting behaviors so common today in communication. How many of you have suddenly had a colleague choose to ignore your communication attempts?

Some may find this to be a bit too much wringing of hands about this kind of behavior. Perhaps it is because we simply do not care as much about decency and courtesy or that a new norm has insidiously begun to settle into our lives…alas that is the point. There are many things we should care about but I believe it begins with the preservation of human dignity by valuing everyone.

I challenge myself to consider how I show up in a way that honors and respects others through a cultivation of the skill of listening with genuine curiosity rooted in the value of each person.

We are reminded by Dr. Seus that we can sit and lament or stand up and lead.  We do this by caring…a whole awful lot.