Respect: Insist upon it from everybody – Maya Angelou

I respect myself and insist upon it from everybody. And because I do it, I then respect everybody, too.

Maya Angelou

I have a huge amount of admiration for this quote. Every emotion has a huge significance on our mental construct. Respect is one such which can go a long way.

Most times we are used to expecting it from external environment but seldom look at it as an internal requirement. In other words – how can you expect someone else to respect you when you don’t yourself?

This sounds like such a tried and tested cliche doesn’t it ? But that doesn’t make it any less true.

Respect : The starting point

It all starts from the definition of who you are. Yes , there are lots of times when we take life on a fatalistic note and don’t spend enough time thinking about the granular aspects which affect us.

What makes you value yourself? Who are you as a person – what does this definition entail?

How do you look like when you imagine this person? What makes you respect him/her? How would you treat such a person in real life. And don’t go into the fake modesty stuff. I’m not going to say you’re selling yourself short, but I will say that you’re being ridiculous and telling yourself a lie.

You are a unique person just like everyone else. If you don’t define what to respect about you – how do you project that part of your personality?

The philosophy

I love philosophy which makes me think, but it is pretty useless if it is just a mental exercise without any results. If our posts were just about feeling good, then I’d be doing a bad job at it since I tend to assume an aggressive tone as I write this.

But then again, philosophy should be able to make a difference for us. It is not just the woolly feel good stuff. It is about the stuff that make a difference. On that note, what are the things that make a mark of admiration for you?

Do yourself a favor and write it down. It maybe a list, paragraph or an essay. I don’t mind as long as it is a serious exercise.

To be treated a certain way

If you want the world to treat you in a certain way, you’ve got to start somewhere. Thomas Fuller said – charity begins at home. You can’t love someone without loving yourself. The Bible says love the neighbor like you love yourself. I can find a tonne more examples of the same.

Bottom line is that the same holds good for value and admiration too. If you don’t draw the line and define what people should respect you for, you get into a limbo state where these things don’t have a special significance to you.

If you want to draw your minds attention to it, bring it to a conscious aspect of your memory. You can sit and complain that people aren’t aapreciating you enough or treating you seriously.

Or you can get to the bottom of it and try and understand why. Try and see why they should respect you in the first place?

Nothing is a given -we have to work towards it. If things were easy, they aren’t really worth fighting for! Isn’t respect something worth fighting for?

That’s our quote for the day on respect, with deep respect to Maya Angelou, we’re very eager to know your thoughts and ideas on respect!