Visit our Co-Founders, His Royal Highness Crown Prince of Norway Haakon Magnus, Professor Pekka Himanen and John Hope Bryant for details on their Dignity Day, and hear Astronaut Richard Garriott’s Dignity Day message from the International Space Station
Shezad Rokerya addresses a group of students at Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
John, Thank you again for bringing us together in what was clearly a very fulfilling experience for those of us who had the privilege to teach a class in Dignity on Oct 20th in LA. After the YGLs’ brief comments to the students and John’s electrifying and motivating remarks we left the main auditorium and proceeded to our respective classes.. I was approached by a young student, Andre who was about 11 years old. He said “Sir, I very much enjoyed your speech” in which I had very briefly spoken about indignity the opposite of dignity, through what I saw in a far away land where students would sit in a 6X6 mud brick room, with no electricity, no door, furniture, books and wait until the teacher would arrive carrying one book for their class to begin. As we see in the basic dignity principles that “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”. Andre wanted to know how he could help them and if he could give me some money to give to those students, I told him that he was showing dignity for others and he smiled. Later in our class, a young student spoke about how she saw “two mothers arguing and one mother dropped her baby…she felt that the innocent baby was entitled to more dignity”…another student said that his “father was an alcoholic and now that he had stopped, he was showing more dignity to his family”
Many children spoke about their dreams about becoming Artists, Firemen or just going to college.
I thanked these children for the opportunity to look into their eyes, hear their thoughts and see the future that they will build, for which we have so much hope.
Wilmot Allen addresses a group of students at Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
GLOBAL DIGNITY DAY – LOS ANGELES
Global Dignity Day Los Angeles took place at a school, the Foshay Learning Center (FLC), located in south Los Angeles. FLC (http://www.foshaylc.org/) is a college preparatory school, serving nearly 3,500 students in grades Kindergarten-12.
FLC is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and one of a handful of LA schools which formed a partnership with the University of Southern California to ensure their success. LAUSD is the second largest school district in the United States, trailing only New York City. The district faces tremendous challenges in educational achievement – large class sizes, academic achievement gaps relative to standards established by the state of California, declining physical infrastructure and a significant number of students come from low income households.
As a “Distinguished California School” based upon its high academic achievement, Foshay is a unique school. In a school district where youth who look like them are divided by gang affiliation, these Latino and black students are committed to learning and life achievement. So it was not surprising that they were readily engaged by Global Dignity Co-Founder, John Bryant, during his introduction of the meaning of dignity and why it mattered for them. YGLs Andrew Cohen, Shezad Rokerya and I each led a group of eighth-graders in a class discussion of dignity.
This intellectual engagement continued in my class of 25 students. We began a conversation about the importance of believing in our own ideas and the power of our ideas in guiding our words and behavior towards others. After a student wrote the 5 Dignity Principals on the chalkboard, students defined each principle in their own words and gave examples from real-life experiences to illustrate their understanding of each principle. We then talked about how famous individuals, such as Cesar Chavez, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, created a legacy of dignity in their service to society and how each of us can follow in their steps. Of these four individuals, Dr. King was best known, but all were respected. In our discussion of dignity, the students made the connection between believing in and respecting themselves and offering this same respect to others as a foundation for dignity praxis. Given how rampant the gang lifestyle is among some of the peers, this understanding of dignity was significant. We ended the session by asking 8 students how they intended to show dignity based upon our discussion. The majority of them stated that not responding to negative or potentially hurtful behavior of their peers in the same way was one way in which they would practice dignity. Others shared that treating their parents and family with more respect and honor was how they would show dignity.
This was truly a great experience for both the YGLs and students. I look forward to the next opportunity.
Today is October 20 and Global Dignity Day. On all continents around the world Young Global Leaders and friends of Global Dignity are conducting Dignity Days in junior high schools and high schools. In Mexico, China, Indonesia, South Africa, Great Britain, Finland and Norway young students are becoming part of this effort to focus on what we have in common rather than what divides us. If you have participated in a Dignity Day, or just simply want to partake in GDD please place a comment on our blog. Help inspire others and tell us what you think. Maybe you have a story you would like to share about how someone were lifted, how their dignity was respected and increased. It would be great if you would share it with us.
In Norway we had a great Dignity Day at Ruselokka school this morning. Several organizations helped conduct a dignity day. A big thank you to the United Nations Association of Norway, the Norwegian Red Cross, MOT, Kirkens SOS and the Development Fund. Also fellow YGLs Henrik Syse (philosopher) and Jon S. von Tetzchner (Opera Software) participated with their wisdom and experience in the Norwegian Dignity Day.
We started out with a general assembly introducing GD before we split into classes. We had a great discussion in our class. The best exchanges followed student’s comments.
Jenny had one day walked to school and saw a heap of scruffy clothes lying on the side walk. Or so she thought. At closer examination she realized it was a human being lying there in the street. Some young kids were throwing pebbles at him and laughing, while others were hurrying past. This grim example of how unforgiving and ruthless the world can be for those that are already in a weak position spurred a great conversation in our classroom about what type of society we want and what we could do in a situation like this.
The strongest part of the day was probably the assembly with all the students (around 130) after the class room sessions. Some of the students shared their own stories of dignity with us all. Here were the stories of how a boy’s eyes had shone with a different glow after Haktan had offered to be his friend and how a girl had travelled to the Dominican Republic and had met friendliness and generosity that far presides what we normally offer in Norway even though we are said to be richer.
I would like to thank the students at Ruselokka school for a great learning experience and hope that all the Dignity Days around the world will be a great success.
Muna AbuSulayman taught Dignity Day in Saudi Arabia.
As schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rarely are able to deviate from the set curriculum, but the principle and superintendent both like the idea so much, especially as it tied in to another event they were doing a World Hunger day—where students semi fasted and fundraised for the world’s poor in a few days.
They were very enthusiastic and well prepared to question on me on the meaning of dignity and how it changes in cultures, yet remains the same. We tied in stories from our country, and heritage, to those in the Islamic Civilization all the way to the most obvious examples in the 21st century.
Throughout it, they were very engaged in trying to understand, how in this world of opportunities and privileges they live in, where they never have to think about the next meal, how they can implement dignity in their daily life. How they can act with dignity, and also save other people’s dignity…
Reuven Agassi taught Dignity Day at the community of “Tel Mond” in the center of Israel. The class is Junior class in a shared agricultural community (Moshav, which is a more capitalistic version of a well known Israeli concept – Kibbutz). This one is about 5 miles west of the Palestinian west bank. The dignity message was on the obligation of the youth to serve as they grow. The talk centered on the “culture of service” to one’s country and personal dignity in accepting responsibility and commitment to providing back to the community after you received from the community. They can serve by joining the military service and protecting people with their lives. They can also serve by other social means not related to the military. Their choice needs to be of service.
Murat Sarayli – Ankara, Turkey discuses his Dignity Day:
We carried out the project at Ahmet Ulusoy Science High School in Ankara as per our standard guidelines…
We had series of meetings starting from the second week of October and at the end 15 classes, from 4 grades of the high school, appointed representatives from their classes to be responsible on the project and they named themselves to be the Global Dignity Project Guides, guiding both for their classes and carry on the project to other schools in town and then nationwide to increase the awareness.
They are also looking for a global meeting one day, where representatives from all nations, regions people come up together and declare a statement on the 5 Dignity Principles.
