Respect- Earned or Granted?

We talk a lot in our society about respect. “I deserve respect”, “Why are you disrespecting me?”, “I get no respect”, etc. This begs the question, is respect something that is freely given or earned? We are told to respect our elders. Some elders conduct themselves in a way that does not garner respect. Should only elders be respected? Do younger people not deserve respect? There are some younger professional drivers and others that are achieving their dreams and acting professionally out there that earn my respect for bringing their best to life every day. 

I think this is a point that should be highlighted. Those that are doing their job to the best of their ability every day, day after day, should be respected for showing up and supporting their peers day in and day out. Hard work, empathy, attention to detail, and connection can go a long way towards earning the respect you deserve. 

Respect, once lost, is hard to regain and rebuild. It is tied tightly to trust in this way. Someone who skates by and doesn’t care about anything except collecting a check will never earn the respect of their co-workers. Those who silently plug away at their jobs every day without complaint don’t get the respect they should have for doing the jobs no one else wants to do. 

Professional drivers are not given enough recognition and respect for driving safe and keeping the motoring public safe every day. Being a professional driver is a stressful job and most do it with dignity and professionalism, but there are those who negatively impact the perception of the Professional driver as well with their lack of respect and dangerous driving habits. Sometimes, it is this group of people that carry the weight for a company without any expectation of recognition who are the real superheroes of the company. Is there anyone in your company that would fall under this category? If you know someone who does this, recognize them for going above and beyond. Recognition can go a long way towards building loyalty among employees. 

Some will say that recognition and respect go hand in hand, but sometimes those employees that get recognition are taking credit for another’s work. In this scenario, respect is withdrawn as easily and quickly as it is given. 

We should all respect each other unconditionally until given a reason to withdraw that respect. It may help our society heal and recover from a ‘Me First’ mentality. If car drivers gave more respect to truck drivers, there would be less accidents. If co-workers gave each other more respect, there would be higher productivity. If we as individuals respect our partners more, we will have more loving and trusting relationships. If we respect ourselves more, we will be healthier and happier as individuals. If we respect ourselves more, we will achieve the self-love necessary to enter into and maintain healthy relationships. We must give ourselves a little grace as we develop that self-respect that will make us stronger individuals and lead to prosperity and excellence in our jobs and personal lives.