I was recently told I don't respect anyone. This is not the first time the concept has crossed my existence but honestly before this it was really in my own reflections.
Not true I don't respect anyone. First of all, I respect everyone as a human being. With certain human rights which should be respected.
However, that does not equate to respecting the individual person. In that case, it is very true. I respect few people. Simply because it takes certain things for me to respect a person. There are a select few people I respect.
The first thing it takes for me to respect another person is trust. To earn my trust, I must be convinced a person does not intentionally cause harm outside of defense of themselves or others. That becomes more complex but I won't explain fully here. The key statement is intentional harm and that's all I need say.
The next thing is whether a person shows respect to others. "Others" does not even have to include myself. It just means a person must show respect to other human beings, including those who have differing viewpoints.
Beyond that, my respect can grow if I am convinced a person is willing to put themselves at risk for the rights and welfare of others.
For some people, respect is synonymous with fear. For me, those are absolutely opposed. I have never respected a person whom I feared and I never will. Try to make me fear you without just cause and you have forfeited my respect for life. Abuse a child or any person weaker than yourself and you gain my enmity forever.
In all, it has become very difficult for anyone to gain my trust. In my own life, I have been emotionally and physically abandoned, beaten, burned, shot at, stabbed, cut, poisoned, cheated on, emotionally abused, temporarily blinded multiple times in various ways, robbed, raped and accused of things I did not do. I have scars all over my body from these things. And those are only including the acts of people whom I loved.
None of this is any form of plea for pity. Just an explanation of the origin of my viewpoint. It is possible to gain my trust and respect but it must be earned and for that I screen before allowing anyone close enough to do harm. I do not buy into the idea that harmful people will change and stop doing harm if you give them trust and respect. It has to be the other way around. I used to believe in the fairy tale compassionate approach but was proven very wrong too many times.
Not true I don't respect anyone. First of all, I respect everyone as a human being. With certain human rights which should be respected.
However, that does not equate to respecting the individual person. In that case, it is very true. I respect few people. Simply because it takes certain things for me to respect a person. There are a select few people I respect.
The first thing it takes for me to respect another person is trust. To earn my trust, I must be convinced a person does not intentionally cause harm outside of defense of themselves or others. That becomes more complex but I won't explain fully here. The key statement is intentional harm and that's all I need say.
The next thing is whether a person shows respect to others. "Others" does not even have to include myself. It just means a person must show respect to other human beings, including those who have differing viewpoints.
Beyond that, my respect can grow if I am convinced a person is willing to put themselves at risk for the rights and welfare of others.
For some people, respect is synonymous with fear. For me, those are absolutely opposed. I have never respected a person whom I feared and I never will. Try to make me fear you without just cause and you have forfeited my respect for life. Abuse a child or any person weaker than yourself and you gain my enmity forever.
In all, it has become very difficult for anyone to gain my trust. In my own life, I have been emotionally and physically abandoned, beaten, burned, shot at, stabbed, cut, poisoned, cheated on, emotionally abused, temporarily blinded multiple times in various ways, robbed, raped and accused of things I did not do. I have scars all over my body from these things. And those are only including the acts of people whom I loved.
None of this is any form of plea for pity. Just an explanation of the origin of my viewpoint. It is possible to gain my trust and respect but it must be earned and for that I screen before allowing anyone close enough to do harm. I do not buy into the idea that harmful people will change and stop doing harm if you give them trust and respect. It has to be the other way around. I used to believe in the fairy tale compassionate approach but was proven very wrong too many times.
No comments:
Post a Comment