Reciprocal Dignity

I wonder what might change in a relationship or a particular connection if we were more aware of that which we hold in common with the other.  I know your first response, “What if I don’t hold anything in common with that person?”  I would answer, “There is at least one thing we ALL have in common.”  You would be so intrigued to hear what that ONE THING might be that you would be on the edge of your seat and wonder out loud, ”What is it that ALL people hold in common?”   And I would sit up tall and begin to gesture with my hands and speak in a passionate tone of voice, “In our essence, at our very core, we all have dignity. No one of us is greater or lesser, no one of us has more value than the other. Each of us are full of light and love, filled with matter that began all of life; and each of us carry some sort of poverty that we acquired along the way of our life in this world. We all hold beauty and suffering in common, every single one of us.”  I would then fall back into my chair exhaling some relief to have said it. You would stand quiet, stunned by the resonance of truth reverberating around and in you. After a minute you might ask me to say it again. This time, I would lean forward and in my best whisper, I would repeat my words.  “In our essence, at our very core, we ALL have dignity. No one of us is greater or lesser, no one of us has more value than the other. Each of us are full of light and love, filled with matter that began all of life; and each of us carry some sort of poverty that we acquired along the way since our birth into this world. We all hold beauty and suffering in common, every single one of us.”

I wonder what might change in our relationships with our closest friends or the unhoused woman we see on the street or an acquaintance if we approached people more aware of what we held in common. I think connection would happen and connection is where new life always emerges.