Seeking Definition, First Attempt

        I had discovered that the overall tone of the Cristian Science Monitor newspaper was one of dignity.

       This was a startling and wonderful realization. But then I wondered: What does that mean: dignity? As a writer, I spend a lot of time searching for the perfect word; in this case, I wanted to know if "dignity" was the perfect word.

       I began my search in the oldest dictionary in our home: the Funk & Wagnall's Comprehensive Standard Dictionary of the English Language (1933). This dictionary has my grandmother's name, Edith L. Hillary, stamped onto the front of it.

Edith used the back of it as a kind of address book.

 

 

       Edith was my mother's mother, and was a Presbyterian. I was pleased to use this bit of heritage from a different member of my family—not my father who was Christian Scientist—to seek a definition for the word dignity.

       Dignity:

1.      Grave or stately bearing.

2.      High rank, office, or position: distinction.

3.      A dignitary.

4.      The state or quality of being excellent, worthy or honorable.

       I noted that the first definition in this list was about stately behavior, which, I confess, I rarely exhibit.

       The second and third definitions are about rank or office. Again, this doesn't seem to fit with me. I have served on non-profit boards, and sometimes I was President or Secretary, but no one in my memory ever called me a "dignitary".

       Did this word dignity actually apply to that newspaper's tone? Did it apply to me?

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