Last week, my childhood home was recommended for historic status in Montgomery County, Maryland. But that’s not because I lived there from the age of 2 to 21. It’s because the worldwide Special Olympics movement was founded there, in the backyard of our home.

A few months ago, after I had presented the Dignity Index to a group of people who work with at-risk teenagers, a woman asked to speak to me out in the hallway, away from the group.

Cadets in the United States Military Academy at West Point are encouraged to live by the motto, “Duty, Honor, Country.” We at the Dignity Index are thrilled that a group of seniors added “Dignity” to the list of values studied this year for a class project that became so much more than academic work – for us and the future Army leaders. 

Most Americans dislike like the culture of contempt. So, why is it growing?   

Because we dislike it as individuals, but it grows as a culture.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, expectant mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, mother-like aunts, self-mothers (I just learned that term), and everyone who takes the time to be like a mother to anyone who needs a mother.

When I was in 8th grade, my junior high school librarian invited my class to write a short paper on life goals – basically, what did we want to be when we grew up?

Pope Francis, who died just hours after he celebrated the great feast of Easter with believers all over the world, was a man who inspired many of us who believe in the power of dignity.

My work with the Dignity Index keeps me on the road (or in the air) pretty often, and last week found me on a flight to Southern California.

Last week my brother Mark and I, together with our wives Linda and Jeanne, welcomed our sister Maria back home to Washington for a celebration of her new book, “I Am Maria.”  

“To the world we dream about,
and the one we live in now.”  

On Thursday night, I sat in a darkened high school auditorium, expecting to be impressed but not prepared to be awed. 

Last week I returned home from the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin Italy. The Opening Ceremonies were held in the Inalpi Arena in Turin on Saturday, March 8th.

Have you ever asked yourself how many cultures you live in?

As I’m using the term here, a culture is a group of people who share a set of habits, behaviors, traditions and values. A culture is shaped in part by what we encourage and reward.

Last week I was in Palo Alto wrapping up a yearlong fellowship with the Emerson Collective—an organization working to create “a world of abundance for future generations” by supporting people and projects that strengthen communities.

Last March, my 88-year-old mother, Marion, moved to a senior living community exactly one mile from us.
It’s been decades since she and I lived this close to one another, and I was realistic enough to think it would be an adjustment.

Much of the growth in our work here at UNITE has been happening in the K-12 education space. Teachers and school leaders across the country are asking how they can uphold and promote the value of dignity within our schools.

President Lincoln, who we celebrate today, delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. Speaking to a divided nation in the midst of the bloody civil war, Lincoln famously ended his 7-minute speech by inviting his country to adopt the qualities necessary for healing:

At this polarized moment in U.S. politics, the University of Utah and Project UNITE have joined forces to make political and public discourse more productive.

Over the last week, our team at the Dignity Index has been asked one question over and over again: “Is treating someone on the other side with dignity a sign of weakness? Isn’t dignity really an excuse for cowardice?”

Recent media attention has raised curiosity about the Dignity Index – our eight-point scale that measures how we treat each other when we disagree.

Did you know that there’s national Quitter’s Day? Observed on the second Friday in January, it marks the point where 80% of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions.