For me: to become a better me each day. To make effort to be more capable. More compassionate. More appreciative of the wonders of being a growing human being.
At the core is decency: being able to respond to all things good and fine and true. Being able to respect others' right to live meaningfully.
It also means to speak out and act with decency when brutality and violence and bullying are used to prevent other human beings from living meaningfully.
What does that mean?
Nelson Mandela speaks that meaning also for me:
"No one is born hating another person because
of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn
to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love
comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
Nelson
Mandela (Long Walk to Freedom)
"I am not an optimist, but a great believer of
hope."
Nelson Mandela
"There were many dark moments when my faith in
humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to
despair. That way lays defeat and death."
Nelson Mandela (Long Walk to
Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela)
"Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden
but never extinguished"
