In the book, The JoyfulTalisman: Conversations on Human Values for a Joyful World, the authors, Vedabhyas Kundu and Munazah Shah during the course of their conversation underline on the need to create awareness and sensitization that by identifying the ‘human’ in others, human values can be promoted. This process of promoting human values in turn helps individuals to enhance their happiness and well-being, they stress. They further note how by coming together in solidarity, individuals not only can ensure the respect of their own dignity, but also ensure dignity of others are respected and protected.
Deep in our mind and in our heart, we need to tell ourselves, ‘I respect the dignity of all irrespective of their background, culture, faith and class’. The authors converse further that if individuals sincerely believe in this, then they will not have the need to think of themselves as more valuable or in a higher pedestal that those around them. Utmost care must be taken to ensure that others are not belittled because they have different views and opinions or look differently. We must realize that we are human beings and we all think and act differently; every individual is uniquely different from others in terms of their looks, nature and ideas.
The authors of the book are clear as they stress that the endeavour to respect the dignity of others has to start from within. Practicing self-respect is the starting block; we have to learn to respect our own dignity. The authors note, “We all must realize that when we recognize the dignity of an individual it results in mutual recognition and mutual respect. If I treat you with respect and recognize your dignity, it is likely that you may reciprocate. Also, our aim should be to respect the divinity of all individuals. If we puncture the ego of others or hurt them, we can never gain their good will. Here we believe that we need to start from ourselves. We must learn to self-respect ourselves; we think it is the starting point.”
The essence of human dignity has been beautifully captured by Immanuel Kant in The Metaphysics of Morals, “Every human being has a legitimate claim to respect from his fellow human beings and is in turn bound to respect every other. Humanity itself is a dignity; for a human being cannot be used merely as a means by any human being (either by others or even by himself) but must always be used at the same time as an end.”
Any compromise with the dignity of individuals and their respect leads to dehumanization process and is anti-thesis to the very idea of human values. With different case studies of individuals who have suffered because their dignity were compromised, the authors talk about the inedible impact repeated actions of disrespect and humiliation leave on the psyche of an individual and the challenges of coping with such difficult situations. Through these case studies, Vedabhyas Kundu and Munazah Shah tries to underline that human dignity is the same for everyone, same for all human beings. In this context, they point out that if we try to trample the dignity of an individual, we are actually trampling our own dignity and respect. The authors point out how by inculcating values promoted by luminaries like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and others, we learn to respect the dignity of all.
