A RENAISSANCE OF SELF-RESPECT

By Willette H. Johnson

I am so over this constant demand for Respect. Hands down, this must be the most frequently used word in modern language. People seem obsessed with getting respect from peers, colleagues, and those in authority. One of the quickest ways, I’ve witnessed, to evoke anger in everyday people is for some event, situation, or circumstance to have occurred and they, as a result, have been left feeling disrespected.

We have become a society of “respect junkies.” A parent once discussed with me at length how her son’s teacher was not respecting him. When I asked her “how so,” she began explaining. She truly believed that by the nature of him being a child and a student in the teacher’s class that the teacher should automatically respect him. There was little emphasis on relationship building, conduct, or performance. The dialogue forced me to stop and think about the ways we relate to one another on a day-to-day basis. There was something about her deep, personal belief in the importance of her son being respected that I was compelled to probe.

Of course, I sought the wisdom of Webster as I explored the meaning of the word respect and found:

l To feel or show honor or esteem for; consider or treat with deference or courtesy

l A feeling of deference, honor, or esteem; a state of being held in honor.

We are profoundly in search of love and acceptance throughout our lives. The word Respect has become the colloquial word for summarizing those basic needs that humans crave. That leads me to the question: Should respect be earned or is it a God-given, inalienable right?

Life continues to be an incredible phenomenon; something to be explored, discovered, appreciated, and impassionedly lived each day. Some believe that through the years of our lives, we get better at it — making fewer mistakes and/or bad decisions, working to our fullest potential, taking advantage of opportunities designed to move us closer to fulfilling our purpose and learning to love our fellow beings.

For me, getting the respect we desire from others has its origins in the self-respect we have for ourselves. Self-respect is putting our values, beliefs, hopes and dreams for our lives into practice. It’s the way we tell the world who we are and teach the world about the respect we desire. Our self-respect is exuded through our attitudes, our words, our behaviors, and how we react to what others say and do.

In this New Year, I propose a Renaissance on Self-Respect. There is no time like the present for a rebirth of us — revived and renewed. We can’t afford to allow something so precious to our well being as honor, deference, and esteem and so crucial to our successful living go the way of the dinosaur. As we strive to love and respect ourselves, I am confident that peers will receive from peers, students will receive from teachers, teachers will receive from students, and employees and managers will receive from one another the kind of Respect that will create a new world order.

May God’s love and peace be your constant sign in this blessed year of 2009! n