Dignity

Charles Redd, RN is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Berkshire Health Systems. He also currently serves on our Board of Directors. Charles writes a weekly blog called "Dignity Freedom Fighter", which we include as a resource in the Race and Health Equity Resource Guide. So many of us look forward to his weekly email about dignity. We asked him what motivates him to write it. Here's what he shared.

Dignity: Why I Write 

I was asked recently to talk about why I right these dignity posts. I have been writing since July of 2020. When I started writing back then I was doing it for my teammates. I wanted them to know that their voices mattered. It was my commitment to them that I would be the leader that they needed and wanted. I hope that I was able to accomplish that. 

As I began writing I never expected that I would be doing this almost five years later. In that time, I discovered something amazing things. My dignity posts were read at meetings. I had a coworker tell me that they read them with their family, and someone recently told me that it is something they look forward to every Friday. I did not expect this outcome. I was writing this for 25 people in the beginning and now I am not sure how many people my words are being share with. What I do know is that the desire to be treated with dignity is what all of us thrive for which is why I believe people want to read my post. 

I have come to learn much about myself during these last five-years. Being vulnerable and sharing your most inner thoughts can be hard especially when you are share the dark sides of who you are. I believe that I have grown as a person since I started writing Dignity Freedom Fighter but more importantly, I have come to realize my inner desire to connect to the dignity of myself, to the dignity of others, and to something higher (Thank you Dr Donna Hicks PhD) is what is driving me every day to become a better person. It is also what drives me to write this post week after week. 

I am blessed that so many of you find value in what I write. I never thought I would be able to put words to paper as I have struggled with reading and writing all my life. I have been blessed, and I am grateful for the gifts I have been given, and I am grateful to all of you who read my posts every Friday. 

So, the question posed to me today is, why do I write this post week after week. I do it to honor dignity because dignity has the power to not only change your heart but to change the hearts of those around you. 

“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 person’s soul in their body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.” Laura Hillenbrand author of the book Unbroken