Dignity: Righting the Wrong

Happy Dignity Friday and Happy Birthday to my daughter Cassandra, 

I have hurt people in my life. I have done this not only by my words but by my actions. I have lost relationships that were important in my life that I will never get back. I have been a person who has violated the dignity of others. That amazes me because much of my life I have had my dignity violated. You would think I would be more sensitive to these violations but I was not. When you do not honor your dignity then you will never honor the dignity of others. I hurt so I wanted others to hurt just as much. Sometimes I was able to right the wrong but what do you do when you cannot. 

As a young man I trampled on the dignity of a family who treated me like a son. This family of German heritage welcomed this young African-American in their home and treated him like a son and a brother. I was full of hate and anger. I am not sure why but I was. I did things that guaranteed that as an adult I would no longer have that relationship. There is still a part of me that is missing because of the choices I made. These choices affected my life well into my thirties. I lost touch with this family so I have never been able to right that wrong.  

So how do you right the wrong when you cannot apologize? I have worked hard to commit myself to being a better person. I have committed to honoring the dignity of others. I have committed to giving back to those less fortunate than I and I have committed to being the best person I can be. I will be honest I have fallen more times than I care to remember but every day is a new day and I try harder to be the kind of person that family saw in me. I work hard to be the kind of person my mother raised me to be.  I work hard to be someone my children can be proud of.  

I am nowhere near the person I want to be but each day brings a new beginning and a new journey. As my brother Tracy says “Each day is a new day for redemption” Can I get an AMEN to that!! 

What will you do today to honor dignity? What wrong do you need to right? 

This post is dedicated to the Rock and CEO of the Redd family my mother our Dignity Warrior and our Rock of Gibraltar 

Charles Redd 

Dignity Freedom Fighter