Respect is not earned
Just an observation, and feel free to disagree:
Respect is not earned, contrary to popular belief. It is taken or given.
Either you are the kind of person who commands respect, or you are not. The difference is actualy nothing more than mentally saying: "I will have your respect."
Does it work? YES! In all cases? Enough to be "statistically significant."
Scenario B: Some folks give respect to others as a default. I try and do this, because it is how I like to be treated. There is no zero-sum game with respect, so why not?
Anyway, I am happy. Bless you, dear reader.
2 Comments:
Interesting food for thought--right before bedtime.
My first response (before sleeping on this profound question): I believe for personal relationships, respect is an earned kind of thing. Maybe in professional or authoritarian position--respect is demanded....but it may not be fully given if it not also earned. For instance....passive/agressive behavior could be evidence of full respect not given to someone who just demands respect.
Hmmmm....re: the stats....I don't have any evidence, haven't read any studies; I have just lived more than a half a century. Personal experience has taught me that it is always best to earn someone's respect...so I can trust their response.
Diane
Hi Diane,
You make very strong points here.
Here is why I wrot this post to begin with: I used to surrender respect immediately. That is to say, I told people with my body language, etc. "I am not worthy of your respect." Guess what? People didn't respect me.
I came off sounding a little harsh in my post here. What I wanted to do is to remind myself and tell other self-haters that if you simply change your own attitude, others will per force respond to you differently.
Thanks again for visiting me here, and I hope you'll come back soon.
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