Respect

The saying “respect is earned not given” has been thrown around a lot. I understand what people mean and it looks good on paper but in real life, it doesn’t happen like that.

If you hear a story about something bad happening like someone cheating. You might say “Oh wow I don’t have any respect for someone like that” or “I lost all my respect for that person, that’s just not a cool thing to do”. Yes, respect is earned but it’s also given.

You give someone an amount of respect before you even meet them. You are friendly and kind when you meet someone or I hope that you are anyway.  When you get to know someone more you can lose your respect or gain respect for that person. If the person does charity work you might respect them more for example. I think everyone needs to step back and realize that respect is not an umbrella term the way it is used nowadays. You cannot lose your respect for someone because you don’t like their face this just means you never liked them to begin with. It also means you are a bit judgmental but everyone is on their journey.

I find it silly to lose respect over something so mundane and then use that as a reason to be mean to others. Especially online where people say whatever comes to mind instead of having that level base of respect and decency by not hitting sent on that awful comment. At the end of the day you get back what you give. It’s easy to give that first bit of respect to people on the internet as you would in real life. Treat people online as you would treat them in real life. Treat someone the way you want to be treated. Be kind.

What do you think of respect, is it earned or given?

Lots of love,
Melissa