By Raquel Kato

You are loved.
You are worthy.
You are enough.
You are valuable.
Your dignity is unchanging.

There is nothing that you can ever do to change any of these facts. Unfortunately, the above statements are things that we do not hear enough, or maybe we don’t hear them at all. As I walk around the local college campus, I see far too many people starving.

They are starving for love, to be heard, to be valued, and to matter. All of our nation’s biggest debates and controversies boil down to this concept. It comes down to whether or not people understand their own dignity, and if they can grant that same dignity to someone else, as well.

I think this is the crux of life all-together.

People are broken and hurting, and they need the reassurance that they are loved. The more conversations I have with people about controversial topics, the more I realize that people are not being told that THEY are valuable and loved.

We can rant and rave all we want about how other populations of people (the unborn, minorities, the poor, etc.) have dignity and unchanging worth (which they do). But, if we don’t understand that fact about OURSELVES, it is going to be really hard to apply the concept to other people, especially the vulnerable populations, and those we disagree with.

We live in a very explicit world. Our culture is very explicit about sex, drugs, fame, money, appearance, waist size, thigh gap, muscle mass, clothing, and the list goes on. Basically, everything makes us question our value and dignity. And for some reason, we allow this explicit culture to permeate every area of our lives. It’s amazing that we can survive with this type of pressure forced on us, literally everywhere we go.

That is why I suggest we combat this explicit culture with the same exact strategy: being explicit. Explicit about how much people are loved, valued, and worth. We need to be explicit about this…we can no longer assume that our kids, friends, and family already know we love them. We have to be explicit about tell them, and telling them as often as they are bombarded with all these other explicitly harmful messages (which is constant).

Here at The Resource Center, we challenge ourselves to be very explicit in how we love and serve our clients. We challenge ourselves to be even more explicit about things like love and respect than the world is about making you feel unworthy.

So again…
You are loved.
You are worthy.
You are enough.
You are valuable.
Your dignity is unchanging.