“Dignity lives where the land remembers.
It is kept by those who endure, not by those who announce themselves.”
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World Languages
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At last we learn
to see, everywhere,
that community
forms from the circle,
holds when needed,
and then steps back,
leaving each person
to stand on their own:
dignity.
Ts’ełt’aane’
hwtth’eyh tl’ah,
k’eh ts’enaalh,
k’eh k’udzeh,
hwtth’eyh ts’eh,
hwtth’eyh t’eh.
K’eh t’aanh,
k’eh hwtth’eyh,
dignity.
This passage is a poetic approximation inspired by Lower Tanana Athabaskan concepts.
It does not claim to be a canonical or complete translation.
Dignity
People recognize one another
by the dignity they show in return.
It appears
in respecting boundaries
and keeping them.
Across time and distance,
it holds,
without fading.
And yet people know
the quiet, wearing thought
of not being enough.
When parting comes,
it becomes clear
how much dignity matters —
more than what you own,
more than what you influence.
It reaches further
than a single life.
Dignity deepens
through lived experience,
through what a person has carried —
unless they were broken.
Through hardship,
through being diminished,
until the memory fades
of who one once was.
Love exists everywhere.
Only when it takes the lead
does suffering loosen its grip.
Then dignity
can become visible again.
