Value+-+Individual+Dignity

This value will be the first one used in 2010 - 2011. Please past below any links to articles, embed videos, etc. that could have some use or value to this first value.

This video helps show that all human beings have dignity. It is a very powerful speech delivered upon the death of Martin Luther King Jr. media type="youtube" key="OW9gwhJ6YJQ" width="425" height="350"

 This video is an example that damages human dignity through gossip - thanks Jenn for the link. might be better off under the theme of teamwork as something that threatens team work.

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This video shows the solidarity of the human family.

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This video points out that we often value the wrong things. media type="youtube" key="KFZz6ICzpjI" width="425" height="350"



Does Dignity depend on physical / mental health? Or is there something more profound about being human.

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Individual dignity at risk in foreign countries. This video is about the tragic genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Exploration of how different types of hatred is one of the greatest obstacles to individual dignity. The exploration of hatred and its effects on history and how it shapes whole societies. media type="youtube" key="SVEQHhsOcFQ" height="344" width="425"



Repeated bullying causes over 100,000 students to drop out of school each year. media type="youtube" key="PtFtbaKIYyg" height="344" width="425"



Please read here reflections by [|Annette Engler] (August 26, 2006, in a personal message): "I think we, as students, have dismissed our feelings of humiliation in academia in replacement of intellectual incompetence. Henceforth, we have accepted intellectual incompetence within ourselves creating a sort of self-humiliating effect. This effect perpetuates a more vicious cycle which we then begin to internalize into variations of silence, i.e., public speaking, journal writing and research presentations. Instances where we are not ourselves or fear being ourselves. Humiliation in the Academic Setting is like a vacuum of intellectual processes because it is the one place where students cannot escape as they journey to scholarship."

The following is an excerpt from a challenging article about the following:

Human Dignity and Bioethics: Essays Commissioned by the President's Council on Bioethics
The President's Council on Bioethics Washington, D.C. March 2008

Part 1: Dignity and Modern Science

Chapter 3: How to Protect Human Dignity from Science
Daniel C. Dennett ...The belief environment plays just as potent a role in human welfare as the physical environment, and in some regards it is both more important and more fragile. Much of this has been well-known for centuries, particularly to economists, who have long appreciated the way a currency can become worthless almost overnight, for example, and the way public trust in financial institutions needs to be preserved as a condition for economic activity in general. Today we confront the appalling societal black holes known as failed states, where the breakdown of law and order makes the restoration of decent life all but impossible. (If you have to pay off the warlords and bribe the judges and tolerate the drug traffic.just to keep enough power and water and sanitation going to make life bearable, let alone permit agriculture and commerce to thrive, your chances of long-term success are minimal.) What matters in these terrible conditions is what people in general assume //whether they are right or wrong//. It might in fact be safe for them to venture out and go shopping, or to invest in a clothing factory, or plant their crops, but if they don't, in general, believe that, they cannot resume anything like normal life and rekindle a working society. This creates a belief environment in which there is a powerful incentive for the most virtuous and civic-minded to lie, vigorously, just to preserve what remains of the belief environment. Faced with a deteriorating situation, admitting the truth may only accelerate the decline, while a little creative myth-making might- //might// -save the day. Not a happy situation. And this is what people fear might happen if we pursue our current scientific and technological exploration of the boundaries of human life: we will soon find ourselves in a deteriorating situation where people-rightly or wrongly-start jumping to conclusions about the //non// -sanctity of life, the commodification of all aspects of life, and it will be too late to salvage the prevailing attitudes that protect us all from something rather like a failed state, a society in which the sheer security needed for normal interpersonal relations has dissolved, making trust, and respect, and even love, all but impossible. Faced with that dire prospect, it becomes tempting indeed to think of promulgating a holy lie, a myth that might carry us along for long enough to shore up our flagging confidence until we can restore "law and order." That is where the doctrine of the soul comes in. People have immortal souls, according to tradition, and that is what makes them so special. Let me put the problem unequivocally: the traditional concept of the soul as an immaterial thinking thing, Descartes's //res cogitans//, the internal locus in each human body of all suffering, and meaning, and decisions, both moral and immoral, has been utterly discredited. Science has banished the soul as firmly as it has banished mermaids, unicorns, and perpetual motion machines. There are no such things. There is no more scientific justification for believing in an immaterial immortal soul than there is for believing that each of your kidneys has a tap-dancing poltergeist living in it. The latter idea is clearly preposterous. Why are we so reluctant to dismiss the former idea? It is obvious that there must be some //non// -scientific motivation for believing in it. It is seen as being needed to play a crucial role in preserving our self-image, our dignity. If we don't have souls, we are //just animals!// (And how could you love, or respect, or grant responsibility to something that was just an animal?) Doesn't the very meaning of our lives depend on the reality of our immaterial souls? No. We don't need to be made of two fundamentally different kinds of substance, matter and mind-stuff, to have morally meaningful lives. On the face of it, the idea that all our striving and loving, our yearning and regretting, our hopes and fears, depend on some secret ingredient, some science-proof nugget of specialness that defies the laws of nature, is an almost childish ploy: "Let's gather up all the wonderfulness of human life and sweep it into the special hidey-hole where science can never get at it!" Although this fortress mentality has a certain medieval charm, looked at in the cold light of day, this idea is transparently desperate, implausible, and risky: putting all your eggs in one basket, and a remarkably vulnerable basket at that. It is vulnerable because it must declare science to be unable to shed any light on the various aspects of human consciousness and human morality at a time when exciting progress is being made on these very issues. One of Aristotle's few major mistakes was declaring "the heavens" to be made of a different kind of stuff, entirely unlike the matter here on Earth-a tactical error whose brittleness became obvious once Galileo and company began their still-expanding campaign to understand the physics of the cosmos. Clinging similarly to an immaterial concept of a soul at a time when every day brings more understanding of how the material basis of the mind has evolved (and goes on evolving within each brain) is a likely path to obsolescence and extinction. The alternative is to look to the life sciences for an understanding of what does in fact make us different from other animals, in morally relevant ways. We are the only species with language, and art, and music, and religion, and humor, and the ability to imagine the time before our birth and after our death, and the ability to plan projects that take centuries to unfold, and the ability to create, defend, revise, and live by codes of conduct, and-sad to say-to wage war on a global scale. The ability of our brains to help us see into the future, thanks to the culture we impart to our young, so far surpasses that of any other species, that it gives us the powers that in turn give us the responsibilities of moral agents. //Noblesse oblige//. We are the only species that can know enough about the world to be reasonably held responsible for protecting its precious treasures. And who on earth could hold us responsible? Only ourselves. Some other species-the dolphins and the other great apes-exhibit fascinating signs of protomorality, a capacity to cooperate and to care about others, but we persons are the only animals that can conceive of //the project of leading a good life//. This is //not// a mysterious talent; it can be explained .[|**iii**]

[|Human Dignity and Bioethics: Essays Commissioned by the President's Council on Bioethics]
In acknowledging the dignity of each person, we must first recognize the dignity within ourselves. Modeling positive behavior when it comes to good health is essential. Who cannot use some help in this area? So often we focus on others and how we might help them...we forget about ourselves, letting our health suffer...our **weight**...**stress-management...good sleep habits...active lifestyle**, etc. So many of our teens struggle with these issues...**self-image** and **body-dismorhpia** in particular.

It made me think of the following passage:

//"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).//

An excerpt from the mission of [|My Body, His Temple]

//My Body His Temple// ([|MBHT]) combines the physical and spiritual growth of the Christian to keep his body, mind, and spirit strong and healthy for evangelizing. Teachers, preachers, missionaries, elders, deacons, and members can all have the energy and faith to bring others to Christ if they are living a healthy lifestyle. Those outside the faith may also benefit from the health principles espoused here. Have you noticed the number of sick Christians listed in your church bulletin or announced in your assembly? In most cases the members are suffering from diseases that could have been prevented from a change in diet and lifestyle. It is my goal and ambition to reduce the number of sick Christians listed in church bulletins all over the world. The church is supposed to be "called out" of the world, yet we suffer from the same diseases as the rest of the world. The statistics for divorce, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, abortions, children out of wedlock, and adultery have also risen in the church almost identically to that of the world. We must become the "called out" again. We must become spiritually and physically healthy again in order to show the world that Christ is King! The world needs to desire what we have. The only way to accomplish this is to change our lifestyle and teach others.

A collection of fables to point out that individual strengths, communication/tolerance, and acceptance of your own traits/limitations is key.

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL

The Mountain and the Squirrel Had a quarrel, And the former called the latter, "Little Prig:' Bun replied— "You are doubtless very big; But all sorts of things and weather Must be taken in together To make up a year, And a sphere; And I think it no disgrace To occupy my place, If I'm not so large as you, You are not so small as I And not half so spry; I'll not deny you make A very pretty squirrel track. Talents differ; all is well and wisely put; If I cannot carry forests on my back, Neither can you crack a nut." //(Ralph Waldo Emerson.)//

SIX MEN OF INDOSTAN It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.

The //First// approached the Elephant And, happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: "God bless me!—but the Elephant Is very like a wall!"

The //Second,// feeling of the tusk, Cried "Ho! What have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!"

The //Third// approached the animal, And, happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake:— "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a snake!"

The //Fourth// reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee; "What most this wondrous beast is like, Is mighty plain," quoth he; " Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!"

The //Fifth// who chanced to touch the ear, Said, "E'en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!"

The //Sixth// no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a rope!" And so the men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right And all were in the wrong! MORAL So, oft in theologic wars The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean //And prate about an Elephant// //Not one of them has seen!// //(John Godfrey Saxe.)//

THREE BUGS Three little bugs in a basket, And hardly room for //two!// And one was yellow, and one was black, And one like me, or you. The space was small, no doubt, for all; But what should //three// bugs do?

Three little bugs in a basket, And hardly crumbs for two; And all were selfish in their hearts, The same as I or you; So the strong ones said, "We will eat the bread, And that is what we'll do."

Three little bugs in a basket, And the beds but two would hold; So they all three fell to quarrelling— The white, and the black, and the gold; And two of the bugs got under the rugs, And //one// was left out in the cold! So he that was left in the basket, Without a crumb to chew, Or a thread to wrap himself withal, When the wind across him blew, Pulled one of the rugs from one of the bugs; And so the quarrel grew!

And so there was //war// in the basket, Ah, pity 'tis, 'tis true! But he that was frozen and starved at last A strength from his weakness drew, And pulled the rugs from //both// of the bugs, And killed and //ate// them, too! //(Alice Gary.)//

THE CHICKEN'S MISTAKE A little chick one day Asked leave to go on the water, Where she saw a duck and her brood at play, Swimming and splashing about her. Indeed she began to peep and cry When her mother wouldn't let her; "If the ducks can swim there, why can't I? Are they any bigger or better?" Then the old hen answered: "Listen to me, And hush your foolish talking; Just look at your feet and you will see They were only made for walking." 