We all deserve a dignified life

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection is of a strong view that human beings should live a dignified life due to the fact that they are created in the image and likeness of God. Government is urged to thus fulfill its obligation to ensure that dignity of lives is upheld by promoting pro-poor policies that alleviate poverty and reduce vulnerability, stated the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection.
How can we live with dignity?
First we should know well why it is important living with dignity. This awareness not only helps us to appreciate its significance for human existence but it also shows us how to do so.
More often than not it is our perceived and imaginary weakness that makes us vulnerable to our exploitation. Society has evolved in such a way that it has led most of us to wrongly think of ourselves as lesser individuals. And so to live with dignity would mean to aspire for strength. It is said that weakness is death. The real strength dawns when we realise that we all are just perfect.
Now the question becomes how to acquire strength?
An individual must strive for knowledge to acquire strength. Knowledge can be achieved through experience or rather by being true to the experiences one is faced with. So living with dignity would mean being true to one’s experiences to acquire the knowledge of it. For example, if somebody is exploiting us, we must face the exploitation without fear. Going through exploitation and being true to its experience leads us to the knowledge that it isn’t our weakness that is the real cause of it but the exploiter’s unconscious behaviour and the society’s apathy. It at the same time not only liberates us from any further possibility of exploitation, it also allows us to help others situated in the same circumstances. Knowledge creates consciousness of the soul. It allows the individual to take the real birth.
Knowledge to a single individual may be an epochal event. But it is by no means sufficient. Awakened individuals are like shooting stars causing light but only for moments whereas the society is eternal and so is the exploitation. Strength to the society comes from organisation. Awakened individuals must strive to organise themselves to liberate millions from the state of exploitation leading them to a dignified life. It is not a mean task. And it is by no means a one-time goal.
So living with dignity would mean to be true to our experiences, acquire knowledge and organise ourselves to acquire strength. There is no other way out.
We all have a deep, human desire to be treated as something of value. We believe that it is our highest common denominator.
This shared desire for dignity transcends all of our differences, putting our common human
identity above all else. While our uniqueness is important, history has shown us that if we dont take the next step toward recognising our shared identity, conflicts will continue to abound.
The glue that holds all of our relationships together is the mutual recognition of the desire to be seen, heard, listened to, and treated fairly; to be recognised, understood, and to feel safe. When our identity is accepted and we feel included, we are granted a sense of freedom and independence and a life filled with hope and possibility. And when we are given an apology when someone does us harm, we recognise that even when we fall short of being our best selves, there is always a way to reconnect.
Dignity has the potential to change the world, but only if we help to spread its profound message.
We should take time everyday to remind ourselves and those around us the truth about how valuable we all are. In fact, we are born invaluable, priceless, and irreplaceable. Simultaneously, we should never lose sight of our inherent vulnerability. We all know the gut feeling that results from being mistreated or neglected its up to us to honour other peoples dignity. In the process, we will strengthen our own.
Once we realise that every human being has the right to lead a dignified life, our differences become less important. On this common ground, we can work out how to live with our differences and take advantage of the positive opportunities that resides within them.
This is why the Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of the Catholic Church’s social teaching.