Books published by Dignity Press

The Human Climate starts with this idea: We are divided on the inside and on the outside-where we live, love, hate, or are frozen in fear. Unless we come to know our emotions better than we do, they will continue to control us.In this small yet provocative book, psychotherapist Carol Smaldino connects the personal with the political, the past with the present, and the individual with the global.She explores the human climate, a term she refers to as encompassing culture, assumptions, rules, mood, and the atmosphere of a given time and place. She sees addressing these elements as indispensable if we are to effectively resolve divisions related to social and global issues, and, our most intimate relationships.Smaldino shares clinical experiences, her own stories, and provides insightful reflections. The Human Climate offers us a way to face our shadows - places where we hide and try to bury (unconsciously) the parts of ourselves that we dislike. If we don't face and integrate our difficult emotions, we continue to demonize other nations, other people - even those we love and marry. In working through our resistance to change, we have the chance to access compassion and empathy.

This book gives testimonies of the exemplary life and death of Sister Felicitas Niyitegeka, the director of the Centre Saint-Pierre in Gisenyi, Rwanda. During the 1994 Genocide, she helped many Tutsi to escape by giving them shelter and helping to cross the border to Congo. Finally, when the militia arrived at her institute to kill all who had sought refuge, she voluntarily joined them into death, albeit having the choice - as a hutu and sister of an army colonel - to stay alive.