Repeat after me, I am a person worthy of respect! My child is a person worthy of respect! The people I meet at school, in the grocery store, and at the doctor’s office are people worthy of respect. It doesn’t matter if you agree with them politically, morally, or philosophically, they are still worthy of your respect. Why? Because every person ever created is a masterpiece! Unique! Beautiful! Pièce de Résistance! A Magnum Opus!
From day one, David’s Refuge has always celebrated and promoted the beauty and sanctity of every person we have had the privilege to love and serve. It is so important and key to who we are as an organization that we made it one of our five values. Ten years ago we wrote the following:
Respect: We believe in the sanctity of human life and therefore will treat everyone with dignity and respect.
This value still drives who we are and how we live out our mission.
At the end of David’s life, he couldn’t see, communicate, or care for himself, yet he was still a masterpiece. He was a person worthy of my and everyone’s respect. His life was sacred. It was beautiful, and we had the privilege of loving him, caring for him, and treating him with dignity.
Let’s celebrate this value by telling someone today they are a masterpiece. Tell them they are more beautiful than the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. Who can you pour life into today by reminding them that they are sacred, beautiful, a true treasure!