Dignity V Respect
Dignity and Respect are two words that can be misunderstood more than most, and in our modern society it unfortunately seems to be all about my right to be respected… we’ve got it all arse about.
Firstly, you have absolutely no right to be respected. I don’t care if you are Mother Theresa, no one is compelled to respect you. You will hear people say that Respect is earned and that is very true, but the problem is when people do the right thing and genuinely earn respect, but they are not respected for any number of reasons, then they get angry and upset.
Remember one simple rule…you have NO CONTROL over other people. Do whatever you like and some people will respect you and others won’t. There is nothing you can do about it. If you continually expect people to respect you then you have the world upside down. Be respectful of others and show respect where respect has been earned…these things you can control.
This then leads onto Dignity. Again you hear a lot of talk about the right to dignity, but again I don’t care what your situation is, you have no right to dignity.
As with respect, turn this around, live with dignity, be respectful, be the best person you can be, with what you have, where you are, and have no thought for what other people think of you. This is living with Dignity, and this is completely in your control.
But a word of caution…don’t let living with dignity slip into arrogance, thinking you are better than anyone else because you have all these virtues…it’s easier to do than you would think and can be seen every day especially in many religious organisations.
