The speaker made a startling claim: “Every individual deserves respect.” I’m afraid I missed most of what remained in the message.
In my classroom, I consistently enforce a single rule: TREAT OTHERS WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT. But I found myself considering my own conflicting thoughts about respect.
Respect cannot be learned, purchased or acquired – it can only be earned.
“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” ~ Jackie Robinson
We talk a lot about treating each other respectfully, but it’s mostly lip service. Any quick scan of major media, the Internet, or personal interactions reveals a tidal wave of disrespectful conversation and behavior, often prefaced with the dismissive phrase “With all due respect, …”
Political success demands public lack of respect for opponents. Writers and media personalities become wealthy and famous in proportion to their outrageous and disrespectful commentary. “Entertainers” garner cheap laughs with impertinent, rude remarks that pass as humor.
Who deserves my respect? Must respect be earned? I wondered whether I really believe my own demand that everyone be treated with respect.
Part of the dilemma involves semantics. Philosophers distinguish two primary aspects of respect: recognition and evaluation. Different connotations lead inevitably to different conclusions.
Respect as “evaluation’ implies approval, agreement, or admiration. In this sense, respect must be earned. I don’t admire or approve behaviors that conflict with my values. I disagree with opinions that contradict my own.
Respect as “recognition” acknowledges the basic worth of an individual. This is the sort of respect to which the speaker referred, and it’s what I intended in my classroom tenet.
I believe that every person deserves my respect. Trust, admiration, and approval, are earned. Once lost or violated, those qualities are difficult to reacquire.
But EVERYONE, regardless of opinion, character, or behavior, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
Jesus expressed that notion even more radically, demanding something far beyond my simple classroom requirement: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 5)
In Matthew 5, he extends the idea even more by telling us to “love your enemies.”
I don’t know how to do that. I try, and I fail. Perhaps respect is a good beginning.
Do you believe that every person deserves your respect?
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