Unconditional Respect
29th September, 2009 by Rich Dixon - 1 Comment
I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being. Jackie Robinson
Do you believe everyone deserves respect?
I do. I sincerely desire to treat every person I encounter with dignity and respect. And I frequently fail miserably.
I’m pretty good at spotting this deficiency in others, not so proficient at catching it in my own attitudes. I’m trying to figure out why such a basic personal approach to others is so difficult to attain consistently.
- I think we confuse respect with approval or agreement. Of course it’s much easier to respect those with whom I agree, but easy isn’t always the goal. Respect isn’t earned, it’s the unconditional right of every individual.
- I don’t have to like someone to regard them with respect. I like some folks more than others—nothing wrong with that. But I get caught occasionally in the trap of gossiping or otherwise disparaging someone simply because we aren’t buddies. That’s disrespectful, and it’s not acceptable.
- I also think we confuse respect and trust. Trust is most certainly conditional. It’s earned, and once violated is difficult to regain. Only a fool trusts someone who’s demonstrated a lack of trustworthiness. It’s difficult, but I believe I can respect even someone I don’t trust.
To me, respect involves my belief that every person is a child of God. Jesus specifically tells me to love everyone, even (and especially) those I don’t like very much.
I don’t think respect for everyone comes naturally to most people—it certainly isn’t part of my natural instincts. Respect requires a conscious choice; it’s part of living life on-purpose.
We must build a new world, a far better world—one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected. Harry S. Truman
What am I missing? Why is respect such a difficult attitude to demonstrate?
Did you enjoy this article? Please leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net.
Subscribe to receive updates by Email
Related articles:
1 Comment
Bouncing Back » Heaven And Drawing Lines
October 6th, 2009 at 8:31 am
[...] What if we quit drawing lines? What if we dropped our silly obsession with labels and division? What if we focused on tearing down the barriers rather than fortifying them? What if we approached others with simple unconditional respect? [...]
Leave a reply