When I was appointed Dignity Ambassador in ninth grade, I pictured myself making speeches and participating in a few assemblies. However, as the days unfolded, I realized that being an ambassador of dignity was much broader than the quiet exploration of who we are and how we treat those around us.
Dignity, as I learned, is not about being dignified or always being polite; dignity is recognizing the inherent dignity of each human person, including yourself.
One really important lesson I began to learn by becoming a Dignity Ambassador was that dignity is not always rooted in extraordinary acts; instead, so often it is found in the basics of our everyday routines. This could include saying thank you to the security guards every morning, taking time to listen to the student who usually remains quiet, or standing up for a friend who looked left out. I learned that all of these little things meant much more than I first realized. I witnessed that the power of two or three words of kindness could change a person’s mood. Dignity is an unseen currency that binds us together.
There were also moments when my dignity was challenged, a time when people thought I meant something different, or when it seemed too hard to say something. Yet, this is where I learned the significance of dignity: to just be there when others get overwhelmed.
Nowadays, I look back and I don’t think of my experience as a Dignity Ambassador as just a label; it was an experience that influenced the way I present myself to the world. It taught me that no act of respect is ever too small and no individual is ever too insignificant to be accorded the same. If all of us make a small effort to treat others kindly, think about how different our classrooms, our communities, our world would be.
