Dignity and Respect has to do with what you are ready, willing, and able to accept within yourself and in accepting to be able to give others. It is your personal power to make a difference by being true to the best within you and letting that truth shine through your words and actions." Gail Pursell Elliott

All people want and have the right to be treated with Dignity and Respect, No Exceptions. The only way we can do this is by separating people from their behavior. Behavior is not always worthy of respect, but the person always is.

Power is not something that we can bestow on another person. It is something he or she already has within and will struggle to retain. Empowerment means that we acknowledge the personal power each person has to make positive decisions and to take responsibility for them, a simple exercise in treating others with dignity and respect.

Define your personal dignity today. Make a list of the positive internal qualities that you value that never change. Read it every morning and evening to remind yourself that no matter what you meet in the course of the day, regardless of the actions of others, no one can define who you are but you.

As a society, we have come to a point where people too often treat one another as objects and opportunities, rather than as fellow human beings. Respecting one another as individuals, or not doing so, seriously impacts the future for all of us.

Kindness is something that we must own and extend to ourselves, before we are able to extend it to others. When we do this, we do not determine whether someone deserves our kindness anymore than we determine whether someone deserves to be spoken to in their own language. It is simply something we do because it has become our nature to be kind.