Dignity

Dignity is defined as the quality or state of being worthy, honored, or esteemed. Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man’s soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live. Apartheid was a clear case of direct attacks on individuals’ dignity and this was not limited to a few individuals but on multiple generations of native South Africans. How an individual reacts when his or her dignity is violated. The most common reaction is to keep reliving the torment through flashes and nightmares and eventually convincing oneself that the only way out is to seek revenge. Loss of dignity is a gradual loss of individuality.

• The saddest thing in the world is not poverty per se; it's loss of dignity.
• Those at the bottom of the economic ladder lack dignity, and it is the job of the rest of the world to help give it to them.
• Some of the poorest people are the most dignified. And some of the richest lack dignity. If I fail to treat someone with dignity, it is me, not them, who is undignified.
• Extreme poverty is undignified – sometimes communities or individuals do find themselves helpless and in need of crisis or ongoing assistance. Whether in city or countryside, very poor people tend to work for a better life.
• Former president of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide has pleaded “help rebuild the country, moving from misery to poverty with dignity".
• Amartya Sen (and others) defined development as freedom rather than just economic or social progress, and the concept of dignity takes us a step further along that road.
• It is said that if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it. While most poverty measures are disputed, dignity is perhaps the one thing that humans across the globe, in myriad different contexts, most instinctively recognize and long for.
• Dying with dignity is the greatest shift in morality in this generation. If a person is diagnosed with a terrible terminal illness, or is in intolerable pain, why force that person to suffer? There is a big difference between suicide, euthanasia, and dying with dignity. Suicide is self-inflicted. Euthanasia is ending life without consent. Dying with dignity is neither suicide nor euthanasia; it is respect for the individual. An adult who, for very good reasons, consents to die should have that right. Frostbite would not be a good reason. 
• Each person has a sense of worth or value, sense of the price of his personality, his dignity. Personality, dignity, is the center of attention in people’s relationships. Demeaning of dignity is almost the only reason for conflict. Those who lost it are humiliated.
• The genuine price of a man is the truth about him. Everything that increases a man’s dignity is goodness, everything that decreases it – evil. 
• Internal freedom is freedom from fear of being judged, of being charged a low price, and freedom from doubts about dignity. The only fear an internally free man has is fear of going against his conscience. Society knows freedom when its people know dignity.

Responsibility is the price for freedom

Freedom exists only within a framework of rules. Freedom is simply an opportunity to find a definition for yourself, a true, authentic individuality, and a joy in making the world around you a little better, a little more beautiful. Excise and enjoy your freedom in true sense. 

• Like so many things in life, freedom is not free. We cannot justifiably have one without the other. The more comprehensive and diversified the social order, the greater the responsibility and the freedom of the individual. 
• Freedom is inseparable from responsibility. If I have the freedom to think, it is my responsibility to think positively. If I have the freedom to speak, it is my responsibility to speak properly and meaningfully. If I have the freedom to act, it is my responsibility to act correctly. I have no right to excise my freedom to breach other’s privacy. 
• If you don't want to take responsibility, you can't have freedom either. If you shun responsibility, you have to accept slavery in some way or other.
• Freedom of choice which means freedom to choose, to act in this way or that way, to do good and evil. Every individual’s freedom is limited by the others. 
• Nothing can satisfy a human need and greed (be it for freedom as well). Extreme freedom results in catastrophe and responsibilities prevent it.
• Those who do not have enough freedom will inevitably crave more of it. 
• Freedom is just not limited to speech, thought, follow a particular religion etc but freedom from fear, anxiety, worry etc are also equally important. Freedom is an amazing thing, but as with most amazing things, too much of it can be more than you bargained for. Especially if you’re not prepared to handle it.
• There is an important dimension to freedom that is often forgotten: freedom of will. 
• Our freedom may be constrained and our choices limited, in the moment when we choose, we experience freedom. 
• True freedom is closely linked to self-control. Only a self-disciplined person can decide to do something and accomplish it. True freedom is the freedom to follow one’s conscience and maintain one’s personal integrity. This is freedom of will. It leads to more of a sense of liberation and fulfillment. 
• The joy of freedom is not only to be able to choose, but to be able to choose well—to choose the right and the good, and be responsible for the outcome rather than blaming.

People like freedom because it gives them a sense of mastery over things and people. They dislike responsibility because it constrains them from satisfying their desires. Every thought, word and deed in our lives shapes our character. We create our own character through the decisions we make.

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Gentleman's code

• Prosperity should come not with dishonesty and burning conscience but with sweat from hard work.
• Never comprise conscience under any circumstances.
• Be honest by impulse.
• Discuss only merits of own proposition. Ability to sell on that basis will get you repeat orders.
• Never solicit business on the basis of friendship, courtesies or bribes which is sour.
• Never sell a product you aren't sold on yourself.
• Never oversell under any circumstances. A salesman who overloads his customers is a poor salesman than the man who doesn't sell at all. At least the latter hasn't created enemies.
• Consider 'honor' the biggest word in the dictionary. Word is as good as a bond.
• A 'gentleman's code' is something to live up to.
• Fight to the finish to get an order, but within the rules of the game.
• In long run, gentleman's code always works. One can enjoy doing business and can enjoy living with own self.
• Were it not for the unshaken integrity of the mass of people, how could 95% of the world's business be done on credit?
• Labor today is better off than at any time in the history of civilization.
• Capital sees its responsibility in growing measure and shares, according to its enlightenment, with its workers and its public.
• Business firms lean over backward to deliver honest goods. Customer can get his money back. Rigid inspection all through the process of manufacture eliminates the shoddy and faulty.
• Motor industry is pace setter in USA producing incredibly efficient and honest to the last bolt and washer. At the same time prices were kept to a minimum consistent with quality and a modest profit.
• There is no disgrace. Wealth accumulates, but men get it and give it away sharing their fortunes to people. And universities, hospitals, libraries, charitable institutions etc are benefited.
• Gentleman's code is evident in widespread interest in putting service before profit.

A gentleman’s code is a complex system. Some traits are: He gives others the benefit of the doubt. He treats women with respect. He is a good guest and a good host. He talks to people, and not just about himself. He is well-informed on the events of the day. He is well-groomed. He lives with a degree of modesty. His possessions are tasteful. He steps up to help those who need help. He is patient with children. He donates to charitable causes. He can find common ground with anyone for conversation. He leaves every person he meets in a better, or at least no worse, situation than he found them. He believes in encouragement. He is trustworthy and can be relied upon.

Being a gentleman is a matter of choice.

A gentleman puts more into the world than he takes out ... George Bernard Shaw

A gentleman is one who does not what he wants to do, but what he should do.