AMMAN (JT) -- Her Majesty Queen Rania and members of the Young Global Leaders (YGLs) were joined by 100 Jordanian students on Friday for an inspiring conversation about what it means to live a dignified life and how to treat each other in accordance with the principles of dignity.
The event, called Dignity Day, brought together the three cofounders of the initiative, Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway, Professor Pekka Himanen of the University of Art and Design in Helsinki and Operation HOPE Founder and CEO John Hope Bryant, who reunited with several other Jordanian and international YGLs.
Students from several schools across the Kingdom, who convened at Al Jubeiha Secondary School for Girls to take part in the event, were divided into small groups, each led by two YGLs, to perform the different exercises outlined in the Dignity Day curriculum.
Queen Rania briefly joined each session, encouraging the students to tell her about their definitions of dignity, what they felt was necessary to lead a dignified life, and how they would go about passing on dignity to others.
"It is a hard word to define, but we're more concerned about living with dignity than we are with the definition," said the Queen.
Some of the concepts of dignity put forward by the students were:
"Dignity is not a word we can describe... it is a feeling," and
"We are all born with dignity."
All of the students agreed that dignity has to do with respect and opening one's mind to other people's opinions and feelings. As part of their exercises they debated statements like: "It helps to be educated to be dignified," and "Criminals deserve dignity."
"I'd also like to share with you my definition of dignity... Dignity means that our lives matter -- no matter where we live," the Queen told one of the classrooms.
In another one of the sessions, Bryant told the Queen, "We came here to discuss dignity with the students, but these young people are teaching us about dignity!"
When asked by the Queen to describe someone they've met who lives a dignified life, most of the students cited their teachers. They also talked about the special role their parents play in passing on the principles of dignity.
Global Dignity, a partnership of the Forum of Young Global Leaders, is a paradigm shift in thinking about global challenges, creating a new language based on universal human communication to inspire solutions to world problems.
Since its launch in 2005, YGLs have encouraged youth in Canada, Turkey, India and Switzerland to live dignified lives and to engage each other in frank conversations about the right to dignity.
Although a YGL initiative, Crown Prince Haakon told the students that "today is not about the YGL organisation... the message is that everyone of you is a young global leader."
The mission of Global Dignity is to implement the universal right of every human being to lead a dignified life worldwide. This shift creates a new language and a mindset to approach issues of poverty, peace and progress.
Through the use of dialogue and an exchange of opinions, students learn how they can easily integrate some basic concepts into their everyday life to help promote dignity and encourage human rights.
"I learned a lot more than what I meant to teach," YGL Emile Cubeisy said, during the concluding assembly.
All the YGLs agreed that the students who participated in Dignity Day were inspiring and exemplary leaders of Jordan.
"I've done Dignity Days all over the world... and had the chance to talk to kids all over the world, but I have never had the experience I've had here today... This world is in beautiful dignified hands," said Bryant.
Before leaving the celebrations, Queen Rania told the students that "we all want to be treated with dignity and as a result, we all have to respect others... remember that dignity comes in many forms, and it is a fundamental human right that every person deserves to have."
Her Majesty also noted how pleased she was to see the students come together from a variety of backgrounds and different schools across the Kingdom.
"I think that it's great that they're all together because it gives them the chance to form new bonds and friendships," she said.
In addition to best-selling author Rev. Rick Warren, Academy award winning actor Michael Douglas, peace activist and sports legend Muhammad Ali, and former NYSE CEO Amy Butte, hundreds of other supporters have signed the Dignity Principles and become citizens of "Dignity Nation."
For more information on the initiative see www.globaldignity.org
© Jordan Times 2007
