We've all heard the word:  responsibility.  We likely heard from our parents (and perhaps still are!), our teachers, our elders, our superiors, and so on.  We're all taught to be responsible, to come with grips with our lives and to take hold of the challenges before us in an intelligent way.  As Proverbs 24 notes, "He who is slack in the day of distress, his impact will be limited."
     Recently, I heard Gary Haugen, head of the International Justice Mission, based in Washington, D.C. (IJM's mission is to rescue and give new lives to victims of sex trafficking around the world, a cause, in every way, that is worth supporting) speak on responsibility. He made mention of the "dignity of responsibility."  Responsibilty is inherently dignified, Haugen argued, because it is a call to live out who we are.  It is a call to use our God given human dignity to help people whose human dignity is being trampled, be it by sex trafficking, slavery, political oppression, famine, disease, or something else, to recognize our intrinsic responsibility for the care of our disadvantaged fellow human beings around the world.  
     Rightly do our various elders urge us to live responsibly.  As Haugen sees it, part of this is to recognize the dignity of this responsibility, to understand that being responsible is to care not just for ourselves, but to care for the dignity of others, too.  It is to believe in the dignity and worth of every human being.
     Enjoy your dignity, enjoy the dignity of your responsibility