Respect

Nearly anything will earn you respect in the eyes of someone. But only certain things will earn you respect in the eyes of those who are respected. It’s that simple.

So, true respect is not earnedof injuring oneself or breaking the law. The respect earned by that is not true and lasting, because it must be reaffirmed. It is so important for some to be respected that they would to that andmore. However, the way to earn respect is to be respectful. Make it an attitude, not a thing given to a person after they have proven themselves. This way, it can not be demolished by anything bu Respectis something that many people would do many things for. Some would die for it, some would endure endless pain and suffering if they thought others would respect them for it. This is seen in the manyrituals of gangs and the like, which include cutting, burning, or otherwise injuring oneself, simply to earn respect from other gang members. To me, this is ridiculous. If someone cannot respect youfor who you are, than they are not worth the time and effort of earning their respect. A lot of people try to find respect from others because they feel that it is in their religion to respect and berespected. Unfortunately, at least for Christians, this is untrue. The bible simply says to love, and bring others to Christ. This does not mean to earn others’ respect, but just to love them even ifthey don’t respect you.

In the case of other people, there is a mix of importance placed on respect. Some people, like myself, depend only on freely given respect that is acquired through normalacts within your general range of behavior, rather than going out of ones way to impress or earn the respect of someone. Sometimes this is misunderstood as not caring what others think of you to thepoint where you might behave in a manner that is immoral, illegal, and/or distasteful. For instance, I have a friend who only cares what many people would call the “lower” class of society thinks of...