The word "dignity" is often associated with the words "nobility" and "honor." There are four brief definitions of "dignity" in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (tenth edition):
My up-to-date dictionary emphasizes the connection dignity and an elevated character or rank. Yet, I want to speak of "every-day dignity" in the sense of the first definition -- the quality or state of being worthy -- and I want to speak of this as (in the dictionary's definition of "every-day") encountered or used routinely, ordinary. Which dignity must be if it is truly inherent.
Truth be told, the idea of dignity inhering in each person is a relatively modern idea. The philosopher Avishai Margalit writes, "the concept of human dignity evolved historically out of the idea of social honor. The idea of human dignity is a relative latecomer...."
The word "dignity" dates to the 13th century. But its meaning as a characteristic of more than a limited number of people of special honor may date back only to the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th century, and even many Enlightenment figures -- including Thomas Jefferson -- were incomplete or inconsistent in recognizing dignity in all persons.
Yet dignity in the sense of worth can extend to all. The Universalist tradition with its teaching that the love of God knows no limits in fact demands that it extend to all. Our statement of purposes and principles is redundant in speaking of "the worth and dignity of every person" in the sense in which possessing dignity is characteristic of being human. "Worth" is one basic meaning of the word "dignity." But in the sense of behavior we can see how an abstract absolute notion of human dignity is more than just an assertion all persons have worth.
"[D]ignity," writes Margalit, "is the expression of the feeling of respect persons feel toward themselves as human beings. Dignity constitutes the external aspect of self-respect." [51]
It is important that we affirm the worth and dignity of every person, first of all, so that we recognize, possess, and act upon our own worth, claim our self-respect. The message of Universalism was that -- ultimately -- all beings have worth before God. Therefore, a religion must nourish that sense of worth and the responsibility that comes with it.
This is the second reason why it is important for us to affirm the worth and dignity of every person: because society, its structures, and other persons do not always affirm every person's worth. They dishonor and humiliate others for whatever reason. Racism, poverty, religious prejudice, even religious teachings that say a person is unworthy can destroy the self-respect of persons and deny them their belief in their right to assert their own dignity (worth and behavior).
Affirming our own dignity is something we do for ourselves, but sometimes we need a little help from others, sometimes we need a lot of help. Every person is worthy of every-day dignity, but it is not always easy to achieve. Recall Chistopher Buice's story The Beautiful Tiger. I'll bet there are people here who identify with the beautiful tiger -- having been convinced by a mean man that she is neither strong nor beautiful and locked by him in a cage. And I'll bet there are people here who have done for others what the lion did for the tiger -- assuring her of her strength and beauty so that she had the courage to throw open the door of her cage. And I'll bet there are people here who can identify with both the tiger and the lion. And I'll vene bet that there is someone here who sees himself or herself in the mean man.
The point of affirming the worth and dignity of every person is that you are welcome and loved and valued here no matter who you are, how you feel about yourself, or what you have done in the past. Here we affirm the worth and value of every person and we invite you to do likewise. That's been the story of this church since 1890. I asked Paul Axel-Lute to re-tell the story of the girl Mary, that he had written for a service two years ago, because it is a true story of how a liberal and creedless church can help a child grow to be someone who knows her own worth and dignity and who can affirm the worth and dignity of others.
As the American author Virginia Moore put it at the start of the Second World War: "True self-respect, being very different from false pride, leads inevitably to respecting others." If you respect yourself, you have no trouble respecting others, if you assert your own dignity, you don't have to deny the dignity of others. This is how we live when we truly affirm hthe worth and value of every person.
Every-day dignity ought to be ordinary. But sometimes we have trouble seeing it and honoring it in ourselves and in others. One person who knew how to see and honor it in others was the Unitarian poet, William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). Williams was highly educated and a successful doctor, who was also one of the most important American poets of the twentieth century.
At the height of the Depression, he saw a woman who bore none of the marks of the upper or even middle classes. She had no hat, she wore an apron, and the insole of her shoe was paper not leather. The title of the poem, Proletarian Portrait, identifies her as working class.
She may have been poor. She may have had to stand on her feet all day at her work. She was wearing apron. Perhaps she was a maid. But she would not suffer the nail in her foot. She would stand all day if she must -- but she would stand with dignity. As poor as she was, she had self-respect. And as successful as he was -- as a medical doctor and as a writer -- Williams had true self-respect and could affirm the dignity of someone who had neither his wealth nor his status.
There are every-day challenges to every-day dignity. A painful shoe, for example. One person demeans another's religion. Public restrooms are hard to find. A customer at a diner doesn't tip the waitress. One child makes fun of another's looks or clothing. I am sure you can think of many more examples.
There are also every-day ways to affirm every-day dignity. Respectfully disagreeing about religion. Exercising ordinary manners whether face-to-face or behind the wheel of a car. Being kind to others. Asserting one's own dignity without attacking another's.
My message today is simple and brief: We can all be beautiful and powerful tigers and we can be lions who help others to claim their dignity.