This morning I spent an hour with a group of 50 energetic and open-hearted grade 7 students at Greenwood College who spent first period of school learning about dignity and making a pledge to action!

Joining me as co-facilitators of this session were both Celene Caira and Caitlin Samuel-Johnson, senior students at Greenwood College who also worked with me last year to organize Dignity Day with grade 9 students. We kicked off the session by each sharing a story about personal experiences where we have encountered people in our travels who are suffering and living without dignity. We talked about how we envision a world where all people have the right to live with dignity, with access to education, health, love and opportunities to develop themselves.

We then shared the four Principles of Dignity:

1. Every human being has a right to lead a dignified life.
2. A dignified life means an opportunity to fulfill one’s potential, which is based on having a human level of health care, education, income and security.
3. Dignity means having the freedom to make decisions on one’s life and to be met with respect for this right.
4. Dignity should be the basic guiding principle for all actions.
5. Ultimately, our own dignity is interdependent with the dignity of others



As we talked through each of the principles, I took particular emphasis with the fourth principle and asked the students to share personal examples of how they may have taken action in their own lives to increase the dignity of others. One of the students talked about how she volunteers at Sick Kids hospital and spends time playing with other kids so that they have a more positive experience while they are there. We talked about how important it is to be able to interact positively with people, especially those who may be suffering, in pain, feeling lonely or isolated. As some of the students started sharing examples, more and more hands started to rise up with eagerness.



The students then divided into small groups of five and worked on creating the ABCs of Dignity. They were asked to identify a word for each letter of the alphabet that relates to their understanding of dignity. I was impressed with many of the contributions and thought I'd share a few highlights in this blog!!

ABCs of Dignity

A acknowledging, affection, acceptance, actions, appreciation, assistance, abundance
B believe, building, beautiful
C caring, controlled, courage, compassion, community
D daring, dreamer, diverse
E effect, encouraging, equity, exceptional, empathy, environment, exciting
F friend, fun, food, fair
G giving, goodness, grateful, generous
H helping, hope, hugs, honesty, harmony, honouring
I interdependent, intelligent, insightful
J joyful, just
K kindness, kindred
L loving
M moving, mature, mother, merry, meaning, mindful, mutual, multicultural
N niceness, necessities, not being mean, needs
O opportunity, opinion, openness, optimistic
P people, politeness, peace, personality, passion, potential
Q quality, question, quick thinking
R respect, rights
S sweet, seek, smart, security, saviors, shelter, sensitive, self-esteem
T thankful, trust, togetherness
U understanding, unified, unselfish
V value, volunteer, valuable
W women’s rights, welcoming, wonderful, water, willing
X xylophone music
Y you, youth
Z zen



The students had a chance to report-back and the second break-out groups were formed with a focus on action. Each group had a flip chart paper and mind-maps were created with ideas on actions that they could take as either individuals or as a group. One group decided that they would work together to organize a bake sale and raise funds for a school in Africa. When they announced their project to the rest of the class and I asked who else might be willing to help, an instant movement of eager hands rose to the air! Another group shared the idea of having a 'free hugs day'. Some of the other actions listed include:

- make people feel good about themselves
- believe in others
- be a good friend
- be kind to others
- give food and donate clothing to homeless shelters
- share positive comments with people
- tell the truth
- teach people things that you know (especially younger kids)
- volunteer at school on teams
- be gentle to all living things (including animals and nature)
- help out at the 'out of the cold' program for homeless people
- help your teacher if their hands are full
- hold the door for people
- say please and thank you often
- if you see someone in need, lend them a hand

I hope you will join us and pledge to dignity - today and every day!