Elusive Dignity
by
Christopher Dodson
Executive Director
North Dakota Catholic Conference
January 2007
Like many parents, I have
certain questions I like to repeatedly ask my children. A
favorite is "What is the most important principle of
Catholic social teaching?" The correct answer is: "Respect
for the life and dignity of every human person."
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church puts it
this way: "The whole of the Church's social doctrine . . .
develops from the principle that affirms the inviolable
dignity of the human person." The human person possesses
this dignity by virtue of being created in the image of
God. It is not something that is earned or can be taken
away. It is something that is "part and parcel" of being
human.
All the Church's teaching on social matters-- such as human
life, work, family, community, the economy, government, and
education-- draw from this basic principle.
Viewed in the context of Catholic teaching or even
philosophy, the principle is, perhaps, easy to accept.
However, in the so-called "real world," people often think
of something else when they talk about dignity.
People usually think of dignity as something a person has
because of his or her own acts, as in: “He walked
with dignity to the podium,” or as something
reflecting how another is treated, as in "He treated the
prisoner with dignity." People typically do not view
dignity as something all persons always have.
Even the application of Catholic social teaching can create
confusion, since we often urge adoption of policies that
will "treat people with dignity" or address "undignified"
work, health, or living conditions. What we really mean is
that policies should treat people with the dignity they
have by virtue of their creation in the image of God. That,
of course, is a mouth-full and is not always easily
understood within a society where dignity is something
given or taken away.
Failing to recognize the inherent
dignity in human
persons leads to reducing people and communities to things
that can be manipulated according to our own
sense of what is
dignity.
Consider the oft-heard statement, "There's no dignity in
living like that.” It could be meant as a criticism
about how a person lives, a judgment on the person’s
environs, or as comment on how society failed the person.
In other words, what dignity actually is depends on the
speaker’s own opinion.
Some people go further, arguing that dignity does not
always exist. I recently read a good example this.
According to news reports, a severely mentally disabled
nine-year-old girl has received a series of treatments to
keep her physically a small girl. I will not address
whether the parents and physicians made the right decision.
Rather, what caught my attention was a widely publicized
statement by an ethicist defending the acts, saying: "If
the concern has something to do with the girl's dignity
being violated, then I have to protest by arguing that the
girl lacks the cognitive capacity to experience any sense
of indignity."
To this guy, dignity is a non-issue if the individual
cannot "feel dignified."
Bob Dylan captures the elusive nature of dignity in a world
that does not see the inherent dignity in every person in
the aptly titled song "Dignity." The song includes the
lines:
Wise man lookin' in a blade
of grass
Young man lookin' in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin' through painted glass
For dignity
And:
Searchin' high, searchin'
low
Searchin' everywhere I know
Askin' the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?
As Christians, we know where to find dignity. It is there
in every human person. Our laws and policies should respect
and value that dignity – that image of God-- that is
already there.
In Monica Hannan’s book The Dream
Maker,
North Dakotan Patrick Atkinson, founder of the God’s
Child Project, which helps children and families in
Guatemala, El Salvador, Malawi, and the United States, puts
it this way: “Christ sometimes hides a little deeper,
so sometimes we need to look a little harder to find Him.
He’s always there, though, so be sure to say
‘hi.’”
