Recently reading about human dignity as a concept and vulnerability within human relationships.

Some interesting and relevant points came up.

First of all, the concept of human dignity as we know it now, is relatively recent. Dignity had not been a term that had anything to do with being human. It had to do with WHO you were, and HOW you acted within a societal construct. Your WORTH. It was how you presented your worth to yourself and what others considered your worth to be. A man was more worthy than a woman; a freeman more worthy than a slave, and so on.

Enter more recent philosophers, and the rewriting of common cultural memes in the west – and we have the idea of Intrinsic Human Dignity. You get points for being alive. There may be an affront to your dignity as a person. This is a new concept. Think about that – what offends or disrespects your personhood.

Now to tie in Vulnerability –

I will use an example from medicine. If you ( as a doc/ nurse) take off the sock of a homeless person to look at a wound, or the sock of an executive/ceo to look at a wound, you are lowering yourself to their level. You are being vulnerable in that moment to them. You are giving your time, attention and expertise to serve them. In the case of medicine - to literally serve their body. There you open your self up to being like them. To touching diseased skin, fixing a wound. Serving them – ideally selflessly - in that moment.

Married men – we have are known to be the plowhorses of our lives. We are vulnerable to our wives, lrt’s and so on, as we do things which benefit them. That is the vulnerability to our dignity. Our worth. Our “self – esteem”.

So – think about this the next time you interact with the world and your spouse in particular. Is that person as respectful of your vulnerability and dignity as you would like. Are you happy being vulnerable with that person?

How do YOU enforce your OWN dignity?