Ageing with Dignity
Bodies grow less dignified with age. Often minds do as well.
‘Dignified’ in this case implies a loss of control;
a state we don’t have any say in, even if we have given directives.
Carers of the aged are trained to respect the client and their ministrations
are sometimes appreciated and sometimes not.
Dignity is seen today as respect that is due to a person.
Another understanding of dignity refers to a quality emanating
from the person themselves and has to do with their quality, being worthy, honourable.
A naked Eve in the Garden of Eden is described by the poet Milton in Paradise Lost:
‘Grace was in all her steps, Heav’n in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love.’ Book viii, lines 488-9.
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Proverbs 4:18
As we hold the Anglican Church in Burundi in our mind’s eye and heart’s care,
may all that they ask for – peace and reconciliation, advocacy, education,
health, literacy and financial education,
and community development – lift the dignity and worth of its members.