BarryBobPosthole
12-16-2021, 12:29 PM
12954
dig·ni·ty
/ˈdiɡnədē/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: dignity
the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.
"a man of dignity and unbending principle"
Events of the past couple of years have brought home for me the real value of dignity to people. Never mind their condition, a person’s dignity is still near and dear to almost everyone’s heart. It’s a two edged sword too, remember that whole “pride goeth before a fall” deal. But pride and dignity are two different animals. By definition we have to be worthy of dignity. That says something.
But the lines have really been blurred since about the 90’s it seems like. We mistake dignity for pride all the time. There was a time it was bad manners to ask someone who they voted for and most people kept that information private. People used to dress up to go to almost any public event or public place. Look at old pictures of old sporting events and the men are almost all wearing ties and the women dresses. Now people go out in public in their pajamas. Is being comfortable bad? Good manners and dignity used to go hand in hand. Are they the same?
I’m confused. Is today’s public conversation better for its brutal honesty and ready willingness to make our opinions known about just about anything? Is it really better than the previous eras’ definition of polite conversation? Its really changed. In the house I grew up in the word ‘pregnant’ wasn’t used. ‘Expecting’ was proper, pregnant was vulgar. I laugh about it with my brothers and sister, but are we better off for our bluntness? In what way? Are we unencumbered in some way we weren’t before?
I’m not sure where this is going or even why, but the discussion about chat sites got me to thinking of our own history. I’ve certainly been a part of many undignified conversations in our history.
Maybe my noticer feelers got tweaked. But we’re here a pretty fair example of what I’m talking about if you think of it.
Food for thought anyway.
BKB
dig·ni·ty
/ˈdiɡnədē/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: dignity
the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.
"a man of dignity and unbending principle"
Events of the past couple of years have brought home for me the real value of dignity to people. Never mind their condition, a person’s dignity is still near and dear to almost everyone’s heart. It’s a two edged sword too, remember that whole “pride goeth before a fall” deal. But pride and dignity are two different animals. By definition we have to be worthy of dignity. That says something.
But the lines have really been blurred since about the 90’s it seems like. We mistake dignity for pride all the time. There was a time it was bad manners to ask someone who they voted for and most people kept that information private. People used to dress up to go to almost any public event or public place. Look at old pictures of old sporting events and the men are almost all wearing ties and the women dresses. Now people go out in public in their pajamas. Is being comfortable bad? Good manners and dignity used to go hand in hand. Are they the same?
I’m confused. Is today’s public conversation better for its brutal honesty and ready willingness to make our opinions known about just about anything? Is it really better than the previous eras’ definition of polite conversation? Its really changed. In the house I grew up in the word ‘pregnant’ wasn’t used. ‘Expecting’ was proper, pregnant was vulgar. I laugh about it with my brothers and sister, but are we better off for our bluntness? In what way? Are we unencumbered in some way we weren’t before?
I’m not sure where this is going or even why, but the discussion about chat sites got me to thinking of our own history. I’ve certainly been a part of many undignified conversations in our history.
Maybe my noticer feelers got tweaked. But we’re here a pretty fair example of what I’m talking about if you think of it.
Food for thought anyway.
BKB