Dignity...

The Oxford Dictionary defines dignity as "the state or quality of being worthy of respect"... if I were to try and define it (well... in the improbable case that anyone would ask me to define "dignity"...) I would just mention a name: Vanessa Redgrave

Of course I had seen her films... and TV series... and heard about her theater work, though never had the pleasure to actually see one of them... I did know that she comes from a theater family and that great talent has been the "family heirloom" and that her brother and sister were also actors and I had known them too... But all of that did not prepare me for the overflow of emotion that I was to experience while watching an interview she gave to the BBC some time ago. It was late at night, on a Sunday I think, I was already in bed (yes, no party animal here...) and I saw it being advertised that the interview with this amazing woman would pass. Needless to say I stayed up, excited I would get to know her a bit better!

And I did! What a lady!!! The soft, almost seducing, warm voice, the movement of her hands, the smile on her beautiful face, the grace of her manners, the wisdom of her words and the humility and love with which she expressed herself about acting.... I was charmed! A political person with strong views, an actor who has played all that it was worth playing, a mother who lost a child, a sister who lost two brothers and a sister and, above all in my opinion, a woman who appeared, for lack of a better word, complete... And the way she spoke, calm and steady and composed yet passionate... I could not stop thinking that that is dignity!

Respect for others makes us better human beings, I think. And since dignity is the state of being worthy of respect, then, dignity of others makes us respect them hence becoming better... and if, just if, we could make others better by our own dignity, what a great power this would be! In any case, and for fear of starting to talk nonsense, as these concepts are rather complicated and it is quite late,  I will just stop now by simply saying that dignity is better than shoes and leave you to your conclusions...