DIGNITY REQUIRES ACCOUNTABILIY

Several months ago, I visited a wise Rwandan leader. We shared a soda and he offered me some advice. He discussed the role of faith based organizations in Rwanda’s development. Of course he encouraged the obvious developmental mantras such as schools, education, income generating projects, and micro-finance. However, for a moment he shifted the conversation to the deeper philosophic issues. He reflected on the past of Rwanda and the tragedies of pseudo-Christian leadership. His deepest thought was that faith driven enterprises needed to restore the sense of human dignity to ordinary people. Then as most wise men do in offering advice, he left the details to others to discover and own.

Collins English Dictionary defines dignity as the quality of being worthy of honor. Human dignity is a thoroughly shocking concept when we have the courage to open our minds to all that it entails. The world that we live in is concerned with protocol and hierarchy. The airports have a V.I.P. section. Many of us have titles on our office door and business cards that quickly let the first people we meet know exactly where we stand. We learn to climb the hierarchical chain from the earliest age. From the earliest days of play little boys want to know who can run the fastest, score the most goals, and outmuscle one another for prestige. Little girls many times play a more sophisticated and brutal game of relationship manipulation to find who will be to ultimate manager of people. Then we go to school and compete for marks. We eagerly await the public announcement of exam results with a deep desire to be near the top. It’s no wonder that by the time we hit our professional stride the competition and rankings of honor are our deepest desires.

However, human dignity strikes us to the core. The place we don’t want to admit. We all have our failings. There are places in life where we can not compete well. There are places in life where either by poor fortune, plans, abilities, or execution we are simply out muscled. Some is our own doing, but some is just the bumps and bruises in the rough and tumble game we call life.

It’s the call to human dignity that enables us to lift our heads high. Political reformers for thousands of years have faced tyranny with the unshakable conviction that all men are created equal. History’s best theologians laid the philosophical foundation for reformers by their unshakable conviction that human beings are all made in the image of God despite differences in race, language, culture, education, belief system, or economic strength. None of the trappings of hierarchy can remove our human dignity. It is an indelible right simply because we live and breathe in the confines of human skin.

As with all philosophic beliefs the trick is not in intellectual assent. The struggle is to make it practical. We all want to be treated with dignity. We all want to receive the honor due us. We typically belief our human dignity is seen by us receiving basic rights such as freedom, equality, and practical matters such as education. We most feel that others express their belief in our dignity through actions such kindness and generosity. However, I propose others express their belief in our indelible human rights through accountability. Collins English Dictionary defines accountability as being responsible to someone or for some action. Without the practicality of accountability we all become powerless victims in the game of life. With it we are held responsible for results and our human dignity goes to new heights.

I have the privilege to do some guest lecturing in Ethics at local universities. I try over and over to explain the difference between plagiarism and research. I use dictionary definitions. (Collins English Dictionary defines plagiarism as stealing ideas or passages from another’s work and presenting them as one’s own, and research as a systematic investigation to establish facts or collect information on a subject.) I use stories and illustrations. Yet, a portion of my students only seem to learn what plagiarism is when I find it in their assignments and return them with a mark of zero. It seems for some accountability is the only true teacher.

Accountability is a very painful teacher. For weeks my students have labored. They have been in the library or on a computer. They have done extensive reading. They have written until their hands and head can handle no more pain. They have poured many cups of coffee to stay awake with the hope of an on time finish. Yet, they never conceptualized the ethical line they had crossed. Intellectual integrity demands that they quote the thoughts of others and then use their youthful creativity to refine ideas and discover afresh. Instead, many treat intellectual pursuit as little more than a game of swallowing and vomiting information. Maybe, that is the reason plagiarism is so repulsive. It reads like the smell of vomit.

When that moment comes in which they are shocked with the mark of zero all within them cries out for their restored dignity. Surely they are the victim of an unjust system. Will injustice reign or will their plight be ignored? All within their being cries out that the mark of zero is unfair.

Yet, if I relinquish accountability their human dignity is lost. I allow them to believe less than the best about themselves. All the prejudices of the world that are stacked against them will be validated. Plagiarism is driven by a belief system that says the thoughts of others are better than I can attain. The chronic plagiarizer may be lazy, but worse than that he makes untruthfulness, deception, and thievery a part of his life’s character.

A mark of zero is my statement to them that I belief in their intellectual capacity to discover and create. I will accept no less from them as authentic. I believe they hold within them the image of God. They are able to understand and communicate truth. Finally, I belief that they possess the ability to be good stewards. They can understand that the physical items and intellectual ideas of this world are possessed by another. To call another’s work one’s one is theft. Whether it lands us in prison or academic hot water theft is still theft. Even if we succeed and dodge accountability throughout our life there is a cost to pay. Life is the ultimate exam. Exposure may not come in a timely manner, but history books tell us it will come.

A funny thing about accountability and human nature is that we will all have these marks of failure upon our lives. Thankfully, life is a game that is played with many second, third, and fourth chances. For my students caught in plagiarism I will typically provide a more difficult assignment of reflection as a make up for their failed assignment. Human dignity demands both accountability and forgiveness, and I am willing to give both.

However, in this dance with human dignity and accountability the steps become more complicated as we become more sophisticated. In any honest academic institution a lecturer always wins the conflict with the students over plagiarism. No dean, rector, or trustee could overrule the lecturer without throwing his institution into an academic free fall. However, life gets more complicated as the rules of life get fuzzier.

Let me propose as life becomes more sophisticated our call to human dignity must always come with a cost of accountability. There is no place to allow the most unfortunate of life to wallow in self-pity and victimization. Whatever is placed in their hands they must do with excellence despite mounting injustice. Similarly, those in the greatest positions of power and influence must also bear the weight of accountability. They too must meet the standards of both written law and eternal principle. To accept less from them is also a mark of dishonor upon their character. Dignity requires accountability.

Come run with me.