It’s human nature to love being admired and respected.
At the same time, one of life’s hardest truths is that no one owes us anything.
As much as we may enjoy or even crave acceptance, we have no claim whatsoever by which others must like us, love us or treat us with dignity.
Truth be told, demanding that others treat us with dignity, admiration or respect is a losing proposition.
However, these qualities are commanded by those who choose to live their lives with self respect.
And acquiring self respect comes down to our willingness to live a life of personal excellence.
Civility can be described as how we treat others but our sense of personal dignity always comes down to whether or not we respect ourselves.
When we respect ourselves, the natural consequence is that we will inspire respect in the people around us.
Robert Ringer puts it like this:
“Demanding dignity from others is the ultimate self-delusion. If being treated with dignity is genuinely important to you, the most efficient way to bring that about is to act in dignified ways.”
When we see someone who is rising above whatever society may be doing at the moment, it’s nearly impossible not to admire and respect them for doing so.
That’s the difference between demanding and commanding the admiration and respect of others.
Respect is something that must be inspired not required.
You may also enjoy Latter-day Voices, another quality publication in the Fifty-two Seven Alliance family.
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